Business Problems Solved Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Lee talks through the critical role of questioning in successful change management. Drawing from his extensive experience since 2006, Lee emphasises that while tools and methodologies are essential, the true key to effective change lies in understanding and asking the right questions. He argues that change practitioners should prioritise developing their questioning skills and the principles behind those questions rather than solely focusing on tools. By engaging the minds, hearts, and hands of individuals, change practitioners can facilitate meaningful transitions and foster a culture of ownership and engagement. Tune in to explore how shifting the focus from tools to thinking can lead to more sustainable and successful change initiatives.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Prioritise Questions Over Tools: Successful change management should focus on asking the right questions and understanding the principles behind those questions, rather than solely relying on tools and frameworks.

2. Engagement is Crucial: The ability to engage with people is critical for successful change. Change practitioners must work to understand and connect with individuals to facilitate a positive transition.

3. Understanding Change Dynamics: Change is fundamentally about transitioning people from one state to another. This requires a deep understanding of the thinking, habits, and behaviours of those involved in the change process.

4. Create a Safe Environment for Thinking: It’s essential to foster an environment where individuals feel safe to express their thoughts and engage in meaningful discussions about change.

5. Focus on Meaningful Outcomes: Change practitioners should aim to create clarity around goals and desired outcomes, ensuring that these goals resonate with the people involved, making them feel real and meaningful.

BEST MOMENTS

"Our ability to work with people, our ability to engage with people is critical in the success of landing change." 

"It's not about tools, it's not about people, it's about thinking and our ability to ask the right question." 

"If you want to create new thinking, new habits, new behaviours, you need to create more thinking by asking better questions." 

"Don't ask what tools do we need to teach our change practitioners. Ask what questions need to be created in our change practitioners." 

"Success is changing the thinking of our people, engaging the heads, engaging the hearts, engaging the hands in a meaningful way."

HOST BIO

You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.

Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

Lee talks about the importance of asking the right questions as a leader and the impact it has on coaching and developing people. He emphasises that effective leadership is not just about managing tasks or providing answers, but about fostering thought and reflection in others. Horton discusses the need to balance managing, leading, and coaching, highlighting that change should be an everyday part of business rather than a one-off project. He advocates for a humann centered approach to improvement, where continuous growth and respect for individuals are paramount. By connecting on a personal level and engaging teams in meaningful conversations, leaders can inspire a highly engaged workforce dedicated to making incremental improvements every day.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

1. Coaching Through Questions: Asking questions is a powerful tool for coaching, but the true success lies in generating thought and reflection in the individuals being asked, rather than simply obtaining answers.

2. Situational Leadership: Effective leadership requires a balance of managing tasks, leading people, and coaching gaps. The approach should be tailored to the specific situation and the needs of the individuals involved.

3. Continuous Improvement: Change should be integrated into daily operations rather than treated as a one-off project. Engaging employees in continuous improvement fosters a culture where everyone contributes to enhancing processes and outcomes.

4. Respect for People: Emphasising respect for individuals and their contributions is crucial. A highly engaged organisation thrives on mutual respect, collaboration, and a shared commitment to improvement.

5. Holistic Engagement: To achieve organisational success, it is essential to engage employees' heads (through thought-provoking questions), hearts (by inspiring them towards a common goal), and hands (by involving them in meaningful work).

BEST MOMENTS

"The success of asking a question is not in receiving an answer, but in generating thoughts in the people that we've asked the question of."

"Change needs to be, or should be, an everyday business as usual part of every single role because those who do the work know most about it."

"If we truly embraced those two principles, joined them together and made them business as usual for everybody, then everybody will be working to do the right thing at the right time every single time."

"It's about improving that task at hand as well in a collaborative way."

"Change and leadership is not black and white because not every person is the same."

HOST BIO

You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.

Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

Lee explores the crucial topic of behaviours and how they impact our daily actions. He introduces the concept of ACT - Attitude, Choices, and Technique - as the key components of behaviour. He emphasises the importance of having the right attitude, making conscious choices, and executing tasks with the correct technique to achieve success in business and personal endeavours. By framing behaviors in this way, Lee encourages listeners to reflect on their own actions and consider how they can improve their attitude, decision-making, and skills. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Behaviour Definition: A behavior is defined as an observed act, emphasising the importance of actions being visible and tangible.

• ACT Framework: The ACT acronym breaks down behaviours into Attitude, Choices, and Technique, highlighting the key components that influence actions.

• Attitude: Having the right attitude, whether positive or negative, plays a significant role in shaping behaviours and outcomes.

• Choices: Making decisions, whether right or wrong, is crucial as it allows for learning and progress while making no choice hinders growth.

• Technique: The execution of actions with the right technique is essential for success, emphasising the importance of honing skills and capabilities.

BEST MOMENTS

"The best thing you can do is make the right choice. The second best thing you can do is make the wrong choice." 

"And if we're here to influence habits and behaviours in everybody, then we need to help everybody act in the right way every time." 

"So just by thinking about making the right or wrong choices, having the right or wrong attitude and the right or wrong technique, makes me think about and perform better." 

HOST BIO

You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194 Lee@leehoughton.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.

Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

Our comprehension of specific words is often informed by the experience of learning its meaning, where we got it from or the person who taught us, for example. In this way, our communication should concentrate on what has been heard, rather than what has been said to avoid misunderstandings. Is your teams understanding of a high performing team in sync?    

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• To gain an understanding of peoples opinion of high performance, ask each person to choose an example which for them exemplifies a high performing team.
• Ask them what they think will exemplify themselves as a high performing team so they can understand the different aspects that are required.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I asked everybody to think of a non-work related example of a high performing team. Typical answers are Formula One, the British Cycling Team, Englands Women’s Football Team. When I ask this question it’s to give me a reference point for each person.’

‘It’s vital that we provide spaces for people to explore and share what they have heard not just accept because something has been said that everybody has understood it in the same way.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Business Problems Solved Podcast         

ABOUT THE HOST

For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.

Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

CONTACT METHOD

You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194

Lee@leehoughton.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

This episode's guest is Chris Rainsforth, an award-winning Customer Contact Specialist who has been in the Industry for over 15 years working in both in-house and outsourced contact centres, holding roles in Operations, Training and Support Functions across Front & Back Offices. Chris has experience in developing multi-site, multi-culture and multi-channel change programmes, working across global regions to deliver successful initiatives including enablement, quality assurance, speech analytics and Training and has a demonstrated history in Program Leadership across many functions in a range of industries. His experience is shared as a thought leader and Keynote speaker who has experience delivering small training and discussion workshops up to large-scale conferences and events.

Lee and Chris discuss his journey from homelessness to successful change leader, working for The Forum, a professional training and coaching company, bringing his wealth of knowledge and experience to use in helping clients develop innovative and robust approaches to customer service.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• At 15 Chris became homeless from detrimental choices and being an ‘idiot’, but luckily met people who put him on the road to his current success. Chris’ experiences have led him towards a career advising and guiding other people.
• Contact Centres are great places to launch a business career as it teaches you so much, be it Customer Service, HR, Management or Training.
• To circumvent mistakes of the past, Chris’ family have a very open environment so discussions can be easily held.
• It takes a degree of confidence to issue Keynote speeches, lead Change Groups and run open conferences and events. It is much easier to be yourself in these environments as having to keep up an appearance is exhausting. Be authentic.

BEST MOMENTS

‘We help organisations that run any type of customer operation, whether it’s a contact centre or a back office or retail business, help them understand their requirements and give them learning development and support to make themselves and their people better.’ – Chris

‘One of the key things for me was finding that you don’t need to do everything alone. That’s the place I was in, that I had to do everything alone. It taught me that I don’t need to be expert at everything, I don’t need to know everything, but I do need to know that there are people out there that can help.’ – Chris

‘What three words do you think your daughter would use to describe you?’ – lee ‘I honestly think she would say that I am caring, generous, and I would imagine she would say I’m a role model.’ – Chris

‘People will like me or they won’t, and that’s fine, I’m happy with that. I am who I am and I’m not going try and change who I am anymore. I’ve tried that and it’s exhausting.’ – Chris

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Business Problems Solved Podcast         

ABOUT THE HOST

For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.

Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

CONTACT METHOD

You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194

Lee@leehoughton.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

This episode's guest is Matt Grady. Born in Leeds, Matt is a thoroughly sporty chap and became a professional golfer which took him to the PGA and via Oxford to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates setting up golf courses until the financial crash of 2008. Returning to the UK and quitting golf, Matt found employment in Sales, particularly in Recruitment, and in the last 11 years has progressed to working for international Biotech and Pharmaceutical Companies. A specialist in solving leadership challenges via recruitment solutions, Matt has turned his hand to writing a book, “Making The Cut : Turning Pro in Sport, Business and Life.” He has his own podcast and is a guest on many others.
Lee and Matt chat about becoming a professional sportsman, his golf career, his move to sales, recruitment, writing a book as a dare for motivation, podcasting and the nature of inspiration.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• At 10, Matt couldn’t see life without golf. His success came from heavily visualising his future and having a great sports teacher at school. Having the right support and the right drive was intrinsic.
• Matt joined the recruitment industry via his sales skills and claimed the stability and investment in his future that golf didn’t offer. 
• “Making the Cut : Turning Pro in Sport, Business and Life.” Was written determinedly in 30 days. 
• Matt has his own podcast, ‘ The Domus Search Leadership Podcast’, tackling the subjects of Health, Mindset, Personal Growth, Nutrition, Training and a weekly segment joined by special guests.
• Filter opinions based on the experience of the person providing them. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘I’ve got a nine year old aspiring goalkeeper next door. Fingers crossed, that’s my retirement plan. What is it that kept you going to actually realise your dream, and did you realise your dream?’ – Lee
‘I was thinking seriously about becoming a sports teacher. Turns out my college didn’t do the A Level, so it was back to plan A all the way.’ – Matt
‘In ten years when I’m 50 I’ll be playing golf on the champions tour and I’ll retire having the time of my life.’ – Matt
‘I’m very much a one man band in a bigger organisation, competing in a very challenging sector, with a lot of competition. So I’m doing, hopefully, what others won’t do today so I can get the results that they won’t have tomorrow.’ – Matt
‘I think if I was talking to a younger group now, teenagers, you might think that someone is going to come and save you, and give you all the skills and all the support, but actually probably 99% of it is you and you really have to do the work.’ - Matt

VALUABLE RESOURCES
Business Problems Solved Podcast         

ABOUT THE HOST
For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.
Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

CONTACT METHOD
You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194
Lee@leehoughton.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Lee needs a favour. He has started to write a book. A work in progress with a working title of ‘The Leadership Cheat Code.’ Be Lee’s writing accountability partner and ensure that he creates real actionable content and go to bit.ly/theleadershipcheatcode and sign up for progress updates and keep him on track. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The book will be a practical guide to help leaders of people and change and create high performing teams. 
• The acronym C.H.E.A.T currently stands for Communication, Humility, Engagement, Authenticity, Teamwork.
• Chase, nag, cajole, pursue, encourage, persuade, advise and suggest until Lee produces a book that actually can be used to create real change in, and for, its readers. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘I spoke on the podcast about an acronym called T.E.A.C.H. And is anybody working out that the letters in ‘teach’ are the same as ‘cheat’. So there is some commonality with what I shared in that podcast and what I will be writing about in the pages of this book.’ 
‘We’ve spoken about humility before and that is not thinking less of yourself, it is about thinking about yourself less. It’s the difference between selfish and selfless.’
‘In the book I will also be sharing Chris’ story because that’s the foundation for it and sharing the three lessons and where they came from, and then how they feed into The Cheat Code.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES
Business Problems Solved Podcast         

ABOUT THE HOST
For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.
Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

CONTACT METHOD
You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194
Lee@leehoughton.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Lee relates his journey and career as an Improvement Coach. An immense learning experience and the best and worst job he’s ever had, Lee explains how he has got to where he is now in the career that has given him the greatest satisfaction.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• In 2006 Lee was offered a job that included training in workplace organisation, visual management, standards and problem solving and then presenting it as improvement to teams.
• Lee then spent ten years on projects and programs on problem solving, specific issues that businesses were having difficulty with. This involved end to end visualisation of processes.
• Resistance in improvement made Lee focus on people and their importance in creating systems.

BEST MOMENTS

‘This is how I believe looking back how my career in improvement has transitioned.’

‘It required somebody as part of the solution to move desks. I thought it was a small part of the solution. To him it was massive. It was like I was asking him to uproot his whole family, or leave his family!’

‘When I think about my journey as an improvement person there’s three wheels that I’ve been consistently trying to turn.’

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Business Problems Solved Podcast         

ABOUT THE HOST

For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.

Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.

CONTACT METHOD

You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194

Lee@leehoughton.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

As leaders of people and change, we are always trying to get people to do the right thing at the right time, every time. Rather than repeatedly just telling or ordering them to do so, which requires intervention from you constantly, there are other ways to persuade people to continuously commit to action which Lee explains to you in this episode. 
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If someone is working a process they have to be either really well trained to the point where the actions become habitual, but not everything we do is a consistent action. 
• If the action is a response to circumstance then training will not help, the person has to make the right decision. 
• The three main influencing strategies are ; using the Person, using Social influence or using the Environment to support it. (PSE).
• You may face resistance due to the pain required to change may surpass the pain of the current process. 
• You can create a sense of belonging and teamwork. Can you provide a role model to the process? 
• Ensure the whole environment is supportive of doing the right thing. For example, easy provision of equipment. 
• Create trust as people need to believe that change is for the greater good. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘Our job as leaders is to help them think about it enough to then, hopefully, do the right thing.’
``We spoke about pleasure and pain quite a bit in the past as well. We always, typically, try to paint this picture of pleasure. The dream that we are trying to create, the process and the place we want people to work in.’
‘The conditions within our environments that we’ve created are also factors we need to consider.’
‘Do not just tell them. Do not just tell people to do something. There are so many other strategies that you can do to help people do the right thing at the right time, every time.’
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Business Problems Solved Podcast         
ABOUT THE HOST
For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.
Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.
CONTACT METHOD
You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194
Lee@leehoughton.com 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/

Lee speaks on the importance of understanding not only the way your own head works but also the thoughts of people you work with. Are you getting in your own way, becoming stuck in your own mind in meetings? Do you make assumptions about what others are thinking which alter your attitude and actions, often incorrectly? Lee explains how perceiving your own internal habits and perceptions can be essential to communication and knowing others thoughts crucial to understanding.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Your own thoughts and reactions to others are often a block to being the person you want to be and the messages you want to convey in your meeting. The eclectic nature of our thoughts means we can often bypass sharing all the ideas that occur to us. 
• Our own assumptions drawn from body language and other inconclusive external information can often lead us to prejudge the conversation we are about to have with others. 
• How a meeting starts and its tone often dictates the flow onwards, so it is important to be aware of your own thoughts and the effect others will have on you at this stage.
• We have no control over others' thoughts. We can only persuade people to follow our ideas. Asking people what they are actually thinking can often lead to creative and unexpected results. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘You might go to a meeting and you might recognise that there’s somebody who has been a bit negative about what it is you’re trying to achieve and that might help or hinder you.’
‘Often people say that the first few interactions in any meeting set the meeting tone for its duration.’
‘Giving a point of fact, bit of data, maybe a few slides for context and then just opening the floor and asking ‘what are you thinking?’’
‘Only by sharing the thoughts and ideas that everybody has can we really create amazing solutions and create greater and stronger connections because we are understanding more about each other.’ 
VALUABLE RESOURCES
Business Problems Solved Podcast         
ABOUT THE HOST
For the last 15 years, I have been a multi-sector internal or external business improvement consultant, building the improved capability of individuals, teams and businesses.
In my spare time, I enjoy spending time with my two young children Jack & India. I also enjoy listening to and reading business & personal development material.
Lee Houghton is “THE Business Problem Solver”, a Management Consultant, CX Specialist and Keynote Speaker.
CONTACT METHOD
You can contact Lee Houghton on 07813342194
Lee@leehoughton.com 
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lhoughton/