Careers

As Shannon Foynes Port Company advances plans to become a global leader in offshore floating wind energy, CEO Pat Keating outlines his ambitious vision for the Shannon Estuary The Shannon Estuary is primed to become a renewable energy leader and global hub for floating offshore wind farms as Shannon Foynes Port Company advances plans to harness the power of its close proximity to the Atlantic. “Ireland’s potential for floating offshore wind generation off the West Coast stands at 70GW, which is 12 times our current installed wind capacity on land,” said Pat Keating, FCA and Chief Executive of Shannon Foynes Port Company (SFPC). “The potential is enormous. It is all there, and it could play an enormous role in enabling Ireland’s transition to a low carbon economy, but, without the right infrastructure, all that potential energy will be going nowhere. Now is the time to plan ahead and make the right decisions.” SFPC recently appointed Bechtel, the US engineering firm, to revise Vision 2041, the development masterplan it published back in 2013. “Bechtel is assessing the entire potential of the Shannon Estuary for us, from an engineering point-of-view, so that we can plan out the roadmap of deliverable supply chain investments required to assemble these floating wind turbines and transport them out to sea,” said Keating. Ports like SFPC could act as a crucial focal point in the manufacturing, installation, and operation of large-scale offshore wind farms, while also supporting crucial local supply chains, Keating said. “The port infrastructure is critical, but there is a lot more to it. We are looking at other critical elements like how we can accommodate the offshore grid along the Shannon Estuary, so that this renewable energy has a route to market.  “We’re looking at the potential to produce eFuels from the wind energy resource, like hydrogen ammonia and sustainable aviation fuel.  “We won’t see wind turbines in the Atlantic until 2030 at the earliest, but if we don’t plan now for all of the different infrastructural and supply chain elements that will need to be in place, we may not even make that deadline.” As Keating sees it, Shannon Foynes Port Company is well-placed to play a leading role in the roll-out of such a strategy, with its most recent annual report, released in July, revealing record earnings in 2021 with profit before taxation exceeding €5.2 million for the first time. SFPC is Ireland’s largest bulk port company and second largest port operator. A commercial semi-state company, it is responsible for operating Foynes and Limerick ports and has statutory authority over all marine activities along the estuary, stretching from Kerry to Loop Head and Limerick city. “Our ‘harbour’ is the entire Shannon Estuary, the largest and deepest watercourse in the country, which consists of 500 sq. km. of water with channel depths of up to 32 metres. That is a unique asset in its own right,” said Keating. “Now, we want to use this unique asset to harness the renewable energy asset we have here in the Atlantic.”  Climate Action Plan If realised, Keating’s ambition to develop the offshore renewable energy resource off Ireland’s West Coast could potentially exceed targets laid out in the Government’s Climate Action Plan to achieve 5GW in offshore wind energy by 2030, rising to 30GW by 2050.  As it stands, Phase One projects currently in development under the plan mainly comprise fixed-pile developments situated off the East Coast. These include the Codling Wind Park co-development between EDF and Fred Olsen off the Wicklow coast, Oriel Windfarm – a joint venture between ESB and Parkwind NV in Louth – the RWE Renewables and Saorgus Energy-led Dublin Array Project, and Statkraft’s 750MW North Irish Sea Array. Only after these Phase One projects have been completed is the focus expected to shift to the floating offshore wind developments Keating is envisioning, in the deeper waters off the West Coast. Currently, offshore wind infrastructure in Ireland is markedly underdeveloped compared to other EU countries. The 25MW Arklow Bank Wind Park in the Irish Sea off the coast of Wicklow is our only existing operational offshore renewable energy project, but recent developments suggest significant change ahead. Offshore wind history “The Arklow Bank Wind Park goes back to 2004 and it was actually one of the largest offshore wind farms in the world,” said Noel Cunniffe, Chief Executive of Wind Energy Ireland. “At that point in time, Ireland was regarded as a world leader in offshore wind, but then we put the brakes on, mainly I think because offshore wind was seen as prohibitively expensive to develop.” In the years since, Ireland has been overtaken by the UK and a clutch of European leaders in offshore wind energy, among them Denmark, Germany, Holland and Norway. “We have definitely fallen behind, but there is an upside,” said Cunniffe. “The cost of developing offshore wind energy has come down massively since the early 2000s and Ireland is now in a strong position to take the learnings from Britain and our EU neighbours, so that we can hit the ground running at a much faster pace.” Policy and legislation The Irish Government has made substantial progress over the past 12 months in introducing policy and legislative measures to support the ramping up of offshore energy development. The National Marine Planning Framework was published by Taoiseach Micheál Martin on 1 July 2021, followed late last year by the Marine Area Planning Act. “The National Marine Planning Framework is Ireland’s first comprehensive marine spatial planning framework, and the Marine Area Planning Act provides the legal and administrative underpinning for a new planning regime in the maritime area, facilitating the development of offshore energy,” explained Rebecca Greene, Energy Tax Policy Leader with PwC Ireland.  A regulatory agency has also been announced to enforce the new planning regime and manage the relevant Maritime Area Consents (MACs) and foreshore licensing requirements.   The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) is expected to be operational in 2023, while the first batch of MACs are expected to be issued soon to selected Phase One projects. “All of these developments are critical to paving the way forward for our offshore wind sector and making Ireland an attractive location for renewable energy investment,” said Greene. “At a fundamental level, Ireland’s maritime area is seven times the size of our landmass, so we have access to significant marine renewable energy resources, such as offshore wind, but also wave and tidal.” Renewable energy export The Programme for Government set out targets of 70 percent renewable energy by 2030, underpinned by 5GW of offshore wind.  Thereafter, the plan is to commission at least 30GW of floating offshore wind by 2050, turning Ireland into a significant exporter of energy to other markets.  Speaking recently at the National Economic Dialogue in Dublin Castle, Tánaiste Leo Varadkar, TD, highlighted the country’s potential to one day generate enough green energy to sell excess supply overseas. “While weaning ourselves off coal, oil and gas is a global challenge, it also presents incredible opportunities for Ireland, specifically in the area of electricity generated by offshore wind, backed up by mega-batteries and interconnection, and of course, green hydrogen,” Varadkar said. “I believe, in a few decades, we can go from being an energy importer to being an energy exporter,” he added, “with all the benefits that come with it – greater energy security and price stability, employment and regional development.” Surplus energy produced in the future would be transported through purpose-built interconnectors or existing gas infrastructure converted for the purpose. It could also be converted to green hydrogen stored in Ireland for energy security purposes. “Under the new planning system, we expect to see the first planning application submitted for a new offshore windfarm in the first half of 2023, and the government is also working on the ancillary infrastructure needed to cater for offshore wind energy,” said Cunniffe. “The Department of Environment Climate and Communications is currently working with Eirgrid to work out the cable infrastructure plan for connecting offshore wind farms to the electricity transmission grid around our coastline.” Route to market The route to market for new projects in the pipeline, meanwhile, will be handled initially via a series of auctions under the Offshore Renewable Energy Support Scheme (ORESS). Delivered by the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications with the support of Eirgrid and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, the ORESS auctions will see offshore wind developers bid for capacity, receiving a guaranteed price for the electricity they generate.  “The most competitive projects will get contracts and they will then enter into construction. The first auction will open before the end of the year and we expect the bidding to take place around April 2023,” said Cunniffe. In addition to planning, licensing, and commercial supports, investment in the ancillary infrastructure for the developing offshore wind energy sector will be crucial in the years ahead, according to Greene. “We need to invest significant amounts in port infrastructure, supply chains and workforce requirements. Doing so will enable us to meet our climate objectives, but it will also create huge opportunities for economic prosperity across our economy and society,” she said. Cunniffe agreed that a “major recruitment drive” would be needed to support anticipated growth in the sector. “It is really great that we now have a planning system in place for offshore wind energy with the introduction of the National Marine Planning Framework and Marine Area Planning Act, but what we don’t have enough of are the skills we’ll need to support this,” he said. “There is definitely a shortfall in the number of marine ecologists, biologists and planners we will need to process the quantity of applications we’ll see over the next few years.  “We’re also going to need a lot of electricity transmission grid reinforcement around our coastline, so that we have sufficient capacity to move offshore power from where it’s being created to where it’s needed.” Budget 2023 As we await the announcement of Budget 2023 on 27 September, PwC is calling on the Government to prioritise measures that will support private investment in offshore wind and other renewable energies. “From a tax perspective, developers and investors in the Irish energy sector – and, in particular, the offshore wind sector – require certainty and stability in the tax regime given the significant investment involved. Minimising the administrative burden they face is critical,” said Greene. Among the recommendations outlined to the Government in PwC’s Pre-Budget 2023 Submission for Climate Action is the introduction of accelerated capital allowances for investment in port infrastructure, and the extension of the capital gains tax participation exemption to pre-trading ventures, including renewable energy developers. “We would like to see a broad exemption for infrastructure projects extending to Irish companies investing in renewable energy projects, even if they are not directly involved in the project,” said Greene.  “We’d also like to see the pre-trading expenditure window increased from three to seven years and would welcome clarity and confirmation from the Government with regard to the qualifying nature of grid connection costs.” The R&D tax credit regime could be improved to support green innovation and the development of climate technologies, Greene added. “We are also recommending that the Government reintroduces the relief for investment in renewable energy generation (s486B TCA 97), which ceased in 2014, in order to encourage corporate investment,” she said. “And we would also like the Government to amend the Relevant Contracts Tax regime to enable non-resident contractors with good tax standing to avail of the zero percent rate, and allow for monthly VAT returns to improve cash flow for projects at development or construction phase.”

Over the course of a successful 30-year career in international business, Shane Fitzsimons has refined a tried-and-tested approach to hitting the ground running in any new role. Now CFO and Executive Vice President at AIG Inc in the US, he talks us through the most important professional lessons he has learned over the years. “Keep your ears open, talk to people, pay attention to how things are done around you and adapt.”  For Shane Fitzsimons, the recently appointed Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President at American International Group (AIG) Inc, showing curiosity, trustworthiness and commitment to the business’ success really matters in any new role.  Over the course of a highly successful 30-year career in global business, Fitzsimons has refined a ‘go-to’ approach to hitting the ground running in a new position—no matter the business, industry or location. “In a lot of ways, you could say that getting off to the right start comes down to being a good listener. It’s important to go into any new situation with an open mind and be willing to learn about what’s around you,” he says. “Preconceptions will only ever get in the way and, when it boils down to it, people the world over generally share the same motivations. They want to know that they can trust you, that you can get things done, and that the success of the business is your number one priority.” Born in Belfast and raised in Cork, Fitzsimons has risen through the ranks at global companies like General Electric, Tata Group and now AIG over the course of a career that has taken him from Ireland to Europe, and on to the US, and Asia. Profound advice Every step of the way, he has continued to heed the “profound” advice he received at a pivotal point in his early years at General Electric while he was an analyst at the company’s headquarters in Connecticut. “I was about four months into this one-year assignment in Financial Planning and Analysis and I was gung-ho about the role, working 14- to 16-hour days, because here I was at the company’s corporate headquarters with the opportunity to be noticed by Jack Welch (then Chair and CEO of General Electric) and other senior people,” he says. “I wanted to demonstrate my commitment and my work ethic. Then, one day, the head of FP&A called me into his office. He’d noticed the long hours I’d been working. I was expecting praise.  “Instead, he sat me down and said: ‘I see you’re working these long hours and I’ve got to tell you: if you can’t manage the job I’ve given you in less than the working day, I can’t give you anything bigger to do.’” This advice has since become Fitzsimons’ guiding philosophy, he explains: “If you can’t take a job – even the most difficult job – boil it down, simplify it, and improve how it’s done, you’re not ready to move to a more senior role because you haven’t demonstrated a capacity to grow.” Productivity & performance That conversation prompted Fitzsimons to re-think his approach to productivity and performance.  “I had to reflect on how I could use my working time more effectively to do the job at hand while also getting to know other parts of the business. From that point onwards, I started to look at everything from the point-of-view of efficiency,” he says. “It was really quite profound. Even now with my team here at AIG, we have a major focus on supporting efficiency in the wider business.  “We obviously focus on the numbers—on traditional activities like accounting, treasury and tax—but we also see ourselves as an operational partner to the wider business with an important role to play in driving efficiency and supporting strategy and process improvement.” In this respect, Fitzsimons sees finance as an operational ‘enabler’ in business. “We play a very important role in control and governance, obviously, but we don’t see ourselves as the ‘checkers’,” he says.  “That’s why words like ‘expediting’ are so important to me – because finance is an enabler. Our role is really to help the wider business to be successful in the markets in which we operate.” Even at the earliest point in his career, Fitzsimons was already aware of the need to gain hands-on experience in the cut and thrust of the commercial world.  While completing his training with Chartered Accountants Ireland, he worked with Fitzsimons Flynn & Co., the practice run by his late father Garry, also a Chartered Accountant, from three locations in Cork city, Kinsale and Bandon. “I left Ireland pretty quickly. At the time, there weren’t many options to progress your career unless you were willing to travel and accountancy seemed like a very good career to take on the road with you.” From practice to industry Fitzsimons first moved to the Netherlands in 1990 for a six-month assignment with Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) and would go on to spend a decade in the country, moving out of audit practice in 1994 to join GE Plastics in Bergen op Zoom.  “My father had always said that, to be a really good accountant, I would need experience in industry. He encouraged me to make the move early in my career, so, when I came across a finance role with GE, I decided to take it,” he said. Then a $5 billion subsidiary of General Electric, the US-headquartered multinational, GE Plastics had opened a manufacturing plant in Bergen op Zoom in 1971. By 1994, the site had become a key part of GE’s global operations, serving customers internationally. “I started in general accounting, consolidation, things like that, and quickly realised that, to progress my career, I would need to relocate to GE headquarters in the US and gain experience in areas like FP&A and commercial finance,” Fitzsimons says. He made the move in 2000, spending a year at GE’s Fairfield headquarters in Connecticut before heading southwest to Ohio to take up the role of Group FP&A Leader for Aviation. “That was a huge step up for me in terms of role and responsibility. It was a very formative period in aviation. The industry was heavily impacted by 9/11 and I learned a lot working with leaders like Dave Calhoun (now CEO and President of Boeing),” says Fitzsimons. “I worked very closely with Dave and other great leaders for four years, learning from them, and I was then asked to return to GE’s Connecticut headquarters as FP&A leader for the company. I stayed there for seven years.” Having weathered the worst of the financial crisis helming GE’s FP&A function, Fitzsimons was ready for “something new.” Now aged 44, he had already forged a successful career spanning industry and practice in Europe and the US.  So, what next? “Asia,” says Fitzsimons. “It was missing on my resume.”  When an opportunity came up with GE in Hong Kong, he decided to take it and, in all, spent six years in Hong Kong, initially as GE’s Chief Financial Officer for Global Growth and Operations, followed by Senior Vice-President of Global Operations.  “Then I turned 50 and decided to do what I’d always advised people never to do. I took time off. I’d been working since I was 18. I kind of needed a break. It was the right choice for me,” he says. After his sabbatical, Fitzsimons was on the move again—this time to Mumbai on India’s west coast.  There, he took up the position of Chief Synergy Officer at Tata Sons, the private principal investment holding company for Tata Group, India’s diversified “coffee-to-cars” conglomerate with operations in more than 100 countries. “I’ve moved around a lot over the years and what I’ve found is that there are more similarities between businesses and people around the world than you might expect,” Fitzsimons says.  “Often, you’ll find that the overriding priority for most people is to create a better future for their kids. That’s a very unifying motivation. “Another unifier is that you will always find people in a new company or situation who are willing to help you. Sometimes these folks will be buried in the organisation. They are the people who really want to help the company succeed. They’re willing to accept you early on and help you find your way.” This experience has taught Fitzsimons the importance of getting to know people in any new organisation he joins “at all levels.” “I don’t just want to get to know my direct reports, I want to get to know the people who work for them. I want to get to know people working in other parts of the business. Demonstrating your interest, your curiosity, is really important – and really valuable. People notice it.” An early win An early win can also help to create the right impression in a new role. “It’s important to be able to make a visible difference at the outset,” Fitzsimons says.  “It doesn’t have to be a big win, but it matters that people see it. It lets them know that you have the right intentions; that you’re here to execute and make the company better.” Fitzsimons spent 18 months with Tata Group, leading efforts to create synergies across the group’s diverse set of businesses. “At that stage, it was time to go back to the States. My family wanted to be in the US. The opportunity to join AIG came up in July 2019 and I jumped at it,” he says. Fitzsimons’ first role with AIG was as Global Head of Shared Services, based in New York. At the time, AIG’s Global Chief Operating Officer and Chief Executive Officer of General Insurance was Peter Zaffino, who is now the company’s Chair and CEO. “The shared services role attracted me, but, more than that, I really wanted to work with Peter,” Fitzsimons says.  Global Head of Shared Services was a newly created role at AIG, established to act as a single point of accountability for all key operational and financial capabilities across the organisation. “My biggest motivator right the way through my career has been the opportunity to just dig in and solve complex operational problems as part of a team, and I knew this role would be very operational, which would allow me to get involved in a lot of different aspects of the business,” says Fitzsimons.  “I enjoy breaking problems down into little pieces, finding the right operating cadences and rhythms, and the pure satisfaction you get when you find a solution—especially when you’re working at a pace that’s not necessarily comfortable, but it works.” The value of joining AIG in the shared services role and working with Peter Zaffino as a leader became quickly apparent.  Within five months, Fitzsimons took on the additional role of Global Head of Financial Planning and Analysis and three months after that, he joined the highest ranks of AIG senior management when he became Executive Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer in March 2021—and a member of the company’s 12-strong executive leadership team.  In October 2021, AIG announced that Fitzsimons would transition to the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer by January 2022. In his new role as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, he leads hundreds of financial professionals across the globe who are supporting AIG’s priorities—from delivery on AIG’s financial performance objectives, to the separation of the Life and Retirement business from AIG, the execution of AIG’s budget and capital plans, and proactive engagement with investors and other stakeholders. Future plans & priorities “My biggest career goal now with AIG is to be the best CFO I can be; to cultivate and lead our diverse finance team in a way that allows each member to meet their own aspirations; and support the leaders who have placed their trust in me to be successful,” says Fitzsimons. A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ireland since 1993 and a fellow since 2003, Fitzsimons’ career has taken him from Ireland to Europe, and on to the US and Asia. Despite his success in different industries, however, he didn’t have a “concrete” career plan starting out. “I always had ideas about the experiences I wanted to collect along the way, but I don’t think I ever had a set plan,” he says.  “My father had taught me the importance of gaining industry experience as an accountant, so you would have domain knowledge as a business advisor working in practice, but I found my niche in industry and that’s shaped my career. “Now, ultimately, my priority in my current role with AIG is to eventually leave the business better than I found it. It’s also very important for me personally to build a diverse and high-performing team within the finance function.  “My team is about 60 percent gender-diverse already, which is a high figure for leadership teams in financial services. The goal now is to build on all diversity within the finance team and right the way through the organisation.” Team dynamics For Fitzsimons, a healthy, diverse, and balanced team dynamic is essential to achieving successful outcomes – and there is no place for ‘hands-off’ leadership in this respect.  “Everything is about the team and how the team works together. I actually never use the word ‘manager’ in the sense that colleagues need to be constantly instructed,” he says. “Everyone needs to play an active role. Everybody’s got to have defined responsibilities. They must see themselves and their role as part of the team.” As Fitzsimons sees it, the ideal team should comprise a group of people with diverse experience and backgrounds. “They need to be able to communicate well with each other to be successful and ambitious,” he says.  “I always say that a perfect team has five people on it who think they can do my job and two who probably can. What’s important is the belief that they’re not working in silos and that they’re paying attention to the big picture. It’s a good dynamic.”

As demand for professionals in accountancy and finance continues to heat up, salaries are on the rise and flexibility is top of the agenda for candidates, writes Arlene Harris. Despite rising inflation and predictions of impending recession, “good accountants will always be in demand” and, as companies shrug off pandemic restraints and begin to plan ahead once again, the need for professionals in all areas of finance is on the rise. So says Trayc Keevans, Global FDI Director at Morgan McKinley Ireland. “We are in a market like no other, rich with opportunity. It is one of the best times I can remember for accountancy professionals living and working in Ireland,” said Keevans.  Businesses emerging from under the cloud of COVID-19 are being “more intentional” in their hiring for accountancy and finance positions, according to Keevans. “I think this is why we are seeing so much demand in the market. In some instances, companies have been focusing their efforts mainly on surviving the pandemic by ensuring that the accounts were prepared and controls in place. They were really paying attention to very little beyond that,” she said. “Now, they are hiring again—some with a preference for finance professionals with data skills, because financial planning and analysis (FP&A) is seen as providing business intelligence that can help shape the way forward for companies.” The pandemic has also brought about a shift in the perspectives and preferences of candidates in the profession. “The pandemic really made for a much more competitive market, because employees had more time to evaluate their current positions, to think carefully about the level of flexibility they wanted in their working lives, and the direction they wanted their careers to take,” said Keevans. As recruitment moved online, the virtual hiring process also became faster and more agile. “All of these factors have combined to contribute to the record movement of professionals—particularly in the past 18 months,” Keevans said.  In response, she said companies had been adopting “all manner” of retention stratagems to keep talent on board. “Some of this focus has been on compensation and benefits. The culture of counter-offers is at an all-time high, and this has brought about the need for companies to be more agile in all things pay- and perk-related.” As a result, demand for payroll professionals is particularly high at the moment. “We have seen a number of companies that had previously outsourced to payroll bureaus opting to bring this function back in-house,” said Keevans. “This has created significant demand for payroll specialists, not just with EMEA and MNC experience, but also with experience in indigenous organisations.” In addition to compensation and benefits, employers are also responding to changing attitudes to work-life balance and remote working among candidates post-pandemic. “As long as the demand for accountancy talent outweighs supply, we will see professionals continuing to vote with their feet,” said Keevans. “Any company that isn’t offering any form of hybrid working can expect to see their talent pipeline reduced by up to 80 percent based on current market demands. “The preference in the market is for two to three days in the office and the remainder remote.” Some professionals are taking the demand for greater flexibility even further, challenging employers to adopt a more innovative approach to remote working policies. “We’re starting to see talent challenging the flexibility offered by their employer to include working from locations overseas for a number of weeks of the year,” said Keevans. “This trend is still in its infancy and employers are being understandably cautious in assessing the risks and fairness of such an approach before agreeing to any request.  “They are aware that doing so would need to be referenced within the company’s policy documents on the scope of the hybrid/remote working offering.” Employers are showing greater flexibility in other ways too – recruiting more candidates with experience in sectors other than those they operate in. “Until there is a levelling in demand and supply, we expect to see continued flexibility on the part of employers regarding the sectoral experience they are likely to be flexible on when hiring new recruits,” said Keevans. “As it stands, we have seen employers in all sectors showing flexibility in this regard, with the exception of manufacturing, construction and to some extent, pharmaceutical.” Starting salaries Starting salaries for newly qualified accountants are currently averaging €60,000, up from €55,000 this time last year, while part-qualified accountants can expect to earn about €45,000 annually. “The single biggest area of demand we’re seeing right now is for Big Four newly qualified accountants, as well as those with two to three years’ post-qualified experience in multinationals,” said Keevans. Demand for newly qualified accountants is high in both industry and financial services, as is demand for internal auditors and risk professionals, financial analysts, and accounts payable and receivable. Among tax professionals, the highest demand among employers is for candidates at managerial and senior managerial level. “Here, professionals with five years’ qualified experience are securing salaries of between €80,000 and €90,000 plus benefits. That’s up from a range of €70,000 to €75,000 up to 12 months ago,” said Keevans. “The growth in the number of FDI multinationals setting up here, and wishing to have an in-house tax function, is a driving factor—as are the retention incentives the bigger firms are putting in place to retain their tax talent.”   Keevans said there had been a significant shift from contract to permanent recruitment in the market, a trend she expects will continue in the 12 months ahead.   “As the market starts to open back up, we hope to see more mobility in terms of talent coming into the country,” she said. “This would be welcome as a means to alleviate some of the pressure on the supply of accountancy professionals, particularly in the transactional space. “It is important here for companies to consider the potential to sponsor talent to get employment permits and visas, where required, before going to market to hire. This will help to ensure as broad a talent pool as possible, accessible in the most efficient timelines.”

Julia Rowan answers your management, leadership, and team development questions. I try to be a good leader to my team – I coach, give feedback, help them develop new skills, etc. A few things have happened at company level (e.g. policy changes, unpopular decisions, team members not getting a promotion), and I feel I am getting the blame. As a result, there’s a lot of negative talk about the company, and the spark has gone out of the team. How do I get it back? Leaders often find themselves working very hard to defend, explain, and compensate for organisational issues over which they have no control. You have done a lot of good legwork here, and now you need to trust yourself. Lean into the discomfort, acknowledge the difficulty, offer support and put the ball back in your team members’ court.  For example, if somebody talks about “crazy promotion decisions” you might say, “I’m sorry you did not get that role. How can I help you be successful next time?”  Or, if someone talks about “stupid policies”, you might say something like, “It’s tough when these things don’t make sense. Is there something I can do to help?”   The critical thing here is to catch the moment of the criticism and change your response from explanation to acknowledgement. This is easy to write but hard to do, and you will kick yourself more than once as you realise you’ve launched into an explanation. One day you’ll stop doing it – and your team will feel heard. You might consider respectfully bringing the issue up with the team: “I feel that some organisational issues are impinging on our motivation. At our next meeting, should we talk about how we get our mojo back?” Listen to each person and ask the team how they want to move on. My guess is that the team will have arrived at that point themselves. I am pretty good at my job, but my manager micro-manages me. Nothing can be complete without her checking it. She makes irrelevant changes to my work, and even internal documents are drafted and redrafted. Apart from the frustration, it takes up huge time. How can I get her to back off? There are a lot of ways to answer this: we could look at your performance, the pressure your manager is under from their boss and your manager’s personality.  We could say that trying to change other people is generally a waste of time. The only person you can change is yourself, meaning you need to decide to live with, address or leave the situation.  Suppose you want to address the situation. Try to see beyond your manager’s behaviour and look at her intention: what is she trying to achieve? What hopes and fears lie beyond her behaviour? What does her behaviour tell you about what is important? Connect her behaviour with her intention and use it. For example, when she delegates work to you, explore what is important to her (accuracy, completeness, speed, etc.). Then let her know that you have heard her concerns and priorities. My read of this situation is that she is concerned about being (seen to be) good enough. You should ask yourself how you can usefully connect with and ease those concerns.  Julia Rowan is Principal Consultant at Performance Matters, a leadership and team development consultancy. To send a question to Julia, email julia@performancematters.ie.

Julia Rowan answers your management, leadership, and team development questions. My team works hard and to a high standard, but a couple of people on my team turn every team meeting into a moan about the company. I’m worried that this will affect new team members. The company is a pretty decent employer. What can I do? A. It seems that there are two issues here. First, dealing with the moaning (I will use your word here) and second, making sure that it does not affect new team members. Let’s deal with them separately. When team members moan, our natural tendency can be to jump in, explain, defend, etc. And sometimes that may be the right thing to do, but there is often a “yes but” no-win game being played. There are a couple of things you could do. You could just listen, thank the team member and move on without comment. Or you could listen and ask, “who do you need to talk to about this?” or “who needs to know this?” Or you could have a one-to-one with the moaning team member and try to get under the issue. Only do this if you can be genuinely curious. You could ask questions like “how does that affect how you show up?” and “how can I support you here?” Many people work hard and moan hard, in which case I would praise them for working hard despite their misgivings. If you have a good conversation, you could share your concern that their negativity affects new team members. Loud complainers can create a strong gravitational pull, and you are right to be concerned about their impact on new team members. Make sure to spend plenty of one-to-one time with the new team members, opening up a two-way dialogue, establishing a good feedback relationship, meeting with them regularly, talking about their development, etc. The manager-employee relationship is the most important relationship at work – make sure it’s a good one. I feel my team regressed in the last work from home period. Now we’re working from home again, what can I do to hold the team together? A. Leadership is so important when people are working remotely, as everything is moving online. Five-minute conversations in the canteen often turn into 30-minute Zoom conversations. And you only see your own team and key stakeholders, with none of that easy connection with ‘corridor friends’. Be proactive here. Bring the team together and take some time to review the learning from the last lockdown (what worked well, what worked less well) and invite them to create a set of guidelines (sometimes called a team charter or ground rules) to help them navigate this period. Make this a live document. Check whether it is working and ask, “what else can we do to make this easier for everyone?” You can’t fix this on your own; step back so that the team can lean in. Create a ‘social only’ meeting once a week and get it into people’s diaries. If your team is large, put people into small breakout rooms of two to four people for 15 minutes to give time for connection. If budget permits, send a small gift from time to time. One-to-one check-ins are critical too. Julia Rowan is Principal Consultant at Performance Matters, a leadership and team development consultancy. To send a question to Julia, email julia@performancematters.ie.

 What is executive presence and can it be learned? Paul A. Slattery explains the three pillars of executive presence and how to put them into practice. This enigmatic and elusive notion of ‘executive presence’ (EP) may be a term surrounded by secrecy and shrouded in certain degree of mystique. Many of us may view it as something obscure and elite that is set aside for the use of leaders. How do you acquire it, and how can you project it?  A highbrow concept  What first springs to mind when thinking about executive presence is that it can’t be easily described, but it is recognised immediately when encountered. We all know people who have it. Before coming up with a list of politicians and celebrities, it may be prudent to think of someone we know or have encountered on a professional or personal level. That someone had the demeanour projecting an air of confidence and we are immediately engrossed in their presence. This person had the power of transforming rooms and conversations. That is how we know they had it. The revelation here is that EP can be learned, and it is not such an implausible dream as may be commonly thought.  No one lands a top job or develops a significant following without this subtle but necessary combination of confidence, poise, and authenticity. This amalgam of qualities subtly persuades us we’re in the presence of someone remarkable. In other words, it’s a blend of attributes projecting to others that one deserves to be in charge.  Cracking the EP code means you’ll be given a chance of doing something extraordinary with your life. What is notable about EP is that it steadily proves to be a precondition for success regardless of your social standing and your profession.  The practical stuff The first thing to know about EP is that it is a skill and not a personal characteristic, which means it’s something you can learn and nurture. EP is inarguably attainable for everyone, but as with every skill, it requires regular practice and systematic effort in order to advance. As I mentioned already, you can have all the experience and qualifications of a leader, but without EP, you won’t progress.  That said, expressing those qualities doesn’t come easily. Your topic may be universally interesting and fascinating, but unless you minimise distractions for your audience, you’ll never manage to convey that interest.  In 2013, Chia-Jung Tsay, an associate professor at the University College London School of Management, demonstrated through her piano competition experiment that the most accurate predictor of success in competition was not the musical performance itself, but whether a pianist could communicate their passion through body language and facial expressions.  Then, in 2020, she carried out a similar study, this time in a venture capital pitch competition. The participants were asked to forecast interview winners after reviewing the contestants’ presentations in different ways, which included videos with sound, silent videos, sound recordings, and transcripts. The silent videos most accurately allowed people to identify the winning entrepreneurs, showing that, in the context of entrepreneurial pitches, stage presence is more than crucial – it is fundamentally everything. That being the case, a question arises whether effective communication is more about the medium rather than the message – and EP appears to be the answer. The start Having or projecting EP begins by making the decision to start using EP. Workplace expert and professor, Sylvia Ann Hewlett lists the three areas that form the backbone of EP:  Gravitas – how you act;  Confidence – how you look; and  Communication – what you say and how you say it. She also points to how interdependent these features are: if your communication skills lend you a “command of a room”, your gravitas will proportionally expand.  Gravitas These universal dimensions are not equally important, however. According to Hewlett, gravitas is the very essence of EP. It is gravitas that helps us articulate the qualities that mark us as worthy to be entrusted with accountability and serious responsibility. Without it, you will not be seen as a leader, no matter your credentials. Gravitas is what signals to the rest of the world that we should follow you. In opposition to charisma – the former superstar term in the world of business communication – gravitas is understood as the “ability to appear calm, confident, and steady” in the face of uncertainty, and is vital for every business’s survival.  The importance of appearance As we saw from Tsay’s studies, appearance is our main critical filter. It is quite deceptive and contrary to what people may be articulating. A person’s ‘grooming and polish’ is a key contributor to executive presence. It’s very important to understand that the key to EP in the area of appearance is not a matter of what you were born with, but of what you do with what you have. The good news is that this can be learned and cultivated. The authenticity conundrum The primary struggle between conformity and authenticity is complicated. To what degree should we attempt to fit in and how much should we stand out? This tension can be particularly harrowing for women and minorities, due to the ‘straight white man’ archetype still so prevalent in the professional/corporate world. With age and experience, however, many of us notice that being different and authentic doesn’t necessarily keep us from moving up – on the contrary, it drives our progress. The three pillars of EP This ‘command-the-room and zoom’ quality essentially rests on the following three pillars:  Credibility Credibility can come in the form of your source of information and formal introduction.  When it comes to your source of information, there are a few questions you can ask yourself: where does the information you are sharing with the audience come from? Are you providing information that is current and well-researched? Are the findings and facts true, and from a reliable source? On top of your sources, it’s important when you are addressing an audience to share your background and your experience, and the longevity of your career, especially if you’re talking to external stakeholders. Sharing the credibility of your team is critical in demonstrating the integrity and authenticity that surrounds you.  Lastly, the trustworthiness of the organisation you represent – its values and vision for the future, and how well they align to your own values and outlook – will contribute substantially to yours. Approachability  You engage with the audience through your speaking skills and ability to remain amiable and authentic. Staying true to yourself and letting your enthusiasm speak through your body language connects you to your audience. Being able to look your audience in the eye when speaking and presenting has a transformative effect on your ability to meaningfully engage and inspire. Be mindful of other non-verbal cues: your tone of voice, poise and your attire can also add to, or detract from, your power to hold attention.  Structure EP relies heavily on solid structures, and without proper preparation, rehearsal and a routine that is consistently practiced, EP will become scrambled and non-existent. Thorough preparation leads to more confidence. I believe that we all need to find our own structured routine that will support us prior to connecting with our audience over video, but that also projects our EP in person, such as what social psychologist Amy Cuddy refers to as a power pose. When it comes to handling questions and objections from the audience, your EP is under the microscope. As Leil Lowndes, author of How to Talk to Anyone says, “Every smile, every frown, every syllable you utter, every arbitrary choice of word that passes between your lips, can draw others toward you, or make them want to run away.”  Hence the reasons why a structured response is vital to maintaining approachability and credibility all the way to the end of your presentation. While knowing your topic is a prerequisite, practicing your delivery is crucial.  Building and cultivating your executive presence comes down to three aspects of our behaviour that can be learned with training and practice. The crucial next step is a decision to acquire and cultivate one’s executive presence. It is a choice on how you want to act, how you want to be perceived, what to say, and most importantly, how to say it. For some people it is a strenuous process, more obvious for others. There are no quick fixes; the practice requires commitment and effort. Once you develop awareness of your behaviour, have a personal power pose, know your stuff and constantly practice your delivery, you will be on your way to finding your own EP formula. Paul A. Slattery is Founder & Managing Director of NxtGEN Executive Presence, an education company specialising in executive training, mentoring and coaching services for business leaders and company executives.