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/

In a lot of teams and businesses when you try to influence one or all of your staff to move faster or push harder you often find you encounter resistance. Lee explains this thorny issue and what you can do to circumvent it.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Deadlines are often set in isolation and that means absolutely nothing to the staff member that is required to meet it. 
• It is important that people connect on three different levels. To you as a person, to the problem that needs to be solved, and to the solution.
• Why would an individual support a change if it’s not to their advantage? No amount of influence or manipulation will speed them up.  
• Personal influence is the consideration of what the advantage is personally for the individual. Social influence is demonstrating other people doing the task you want them to undertake, resulting in peer pressure and example. Environmental influence is changing the surroundings to make it easier to take the action required such as providing the right equipment or circumstances for action. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘Often we don’t necessarily understand where the starting position for everybody is and whether they actually want to go at the pace you’re going.’
‘Everybody moves at the pace they want to go.’
‘If they do not benefit from it and can’t relate to the benefit you’re proposing, why would they do what you want them to do?’ 
‘If you want to have a daily huddle with a white board, then make sure that the room supports having the white board.’
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/

Understanding the end destination and result is fundamental in successful leadership, business improvement and change. Lee explains the steps to achievement by asking the question ‘What needs to be true?”.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• What are the tangible signs as well as key measures that will let you know when you have achieved your target, destination, vision or change?
• Just because you have achieved a measurable result does not mean it is sustainable. A short term result is not necessarily going to make a difference unless full time repeatable systems are in place to produce it.
• Do not be reliant upon the subjective vision of other people to indicate that an objective has been reached. Agree upon a verifiable set of results beforehand to fully confirm that the objective has been met.

BEST MOMENTS
‘One way that we try to articulate this for teams and for businesses is “What habits need to be displayed? What behaviours are being displayed? What outputs need to be produced?”
‘You might need to create something, you might need to start a conversation, you might need to factor something in. So this is truly about understanding where it is you’re trying to get to and then making it real in everybody’s eyes.’
‘What does it look like, feel like, sound like as well? What are the habits, the behaviours and the outputs? And then what needs to be done to create those things? Now you know, tangibly, how you're going to get there.’
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/

Flourish ; To grow and develop in a healthy or vigorous way especially as a result of a particular environment. Isn’t this what we want for all our people? We need a welcoming and encouraging environment to allow our team to develop their skills, express their ideas and creativity and effect positive changes to their workplace. Lee takes a look at how we can accomplish this.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We need to concentrate on people and process capability. Develop these two things together and you can create a future ready and fully engaged workforce.
• Being able to develop, learn and progress are always noted as motivating factors by staff within the work environment.
• Allow people to speak and share in a timely, regular and open fashion to take full advantage of problem solving, process adjustment and to also show that your people are essential and valued.

BEST MOMENTS

‘As leaders we have such a huge role in creating a space for people to flourish. It doesn’t just happen overnight.’

‘Often processes are worked multiple times every single day and things that get in peoples way are identified every single day so what you don’t want to do is have a meeting structure that is monthly.’

‘First things first, it is individual to that person how much they want to grow, how much they want to develop and how much they want to really, really flourish.’

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/

Business Problems Solved's 300th episode features host Lee reflecting on his personal transformational journey of running the London Marathon and completing a 100-kilometer ultra challenge. Through his experience, Lee introduces the SMART FIRST method for setting and achieving goals, emphasising the importance of strategic, meaningful, ambitious, real, and targeted goals. He also discusses the FIRST method, focusing on fueling the body and mind, being in the moment, preparing adequately, having a supportive team, and taking one step at a time to achieve success. Lee shares how these methods have not only helped him in his physical challenges but also in guiding his son through a goal-setting process. The episode concludes with Lee's commitment to applying these principles to further grow and improve the podcast in the next 100 episodes.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Episode 300 Milestone: The episode marks a significant milestone in the podcast's journey, reflecting on personal achievements and setting the stage for future goal-focused content.

• SMART FIRST Approach: Introduces a refined version of SMART goals, emphasising strategic, meaningful, ambitious, real, and targeted aspects to provide the right motivation for goal achievement.

• The FIRST Method: Outlines the FIRST method for achieving SMART goals, focusing on fueling the body and mind, being in the moment, ensuring proper preparation, having a supportive team, and taking one step at a time.

• Future Podcast Direction: Lee plans to apply the SMART FIRST approach to the podcast's content, aiming to help senior leaders and change professionals navigate challenges and achieve desired outcomes.

BEST MOMENTS

"I never expected nearly six years ago to ever get to 300 episodes. I thought I was gonna run out of content. But here I am sat 300 episodes later with still quite a few ideas." 

"The A should be for ambitious in smart goals, and not achievable because if we say that it's achievable then it's limiting what we can actually achieve."

"The more that I verbalized the challenge with those people around me, and the more that they could see me training, the more that people started to support because they started to believe in the challenge."

"So are you thinking smart first to achieve your possible dreams? That's what I would encourage you to think about."

"My aim in every single episode of this podcast is to make you think some stuff, and make you think enough stuff that you do something different, or you try something new." 

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.

Which statement resonates best with you ; “I will be successful if I can” or “I will be successful if I want”? No one expects to go to work and do a bad job but we don’t provide the environment for people to flourish. Lee discusses the differences in motivations that can drive your team in this episode.
KEY TAKEAWAYS

• These questions are to encourage discussion on the nature of motivation for people in their workplace.
• If the answer is “want”, the outcome is dependent on motivations utilised by the organisations on the individual.
• If the answer is “can” the outcome is dependent on external influences like training and equipment. Does the person have the things they need to be able to create?
• As a leader if you ask these questions you will establish you have a far bigger role in this than you think. What are the environmental factors that will allow your people to become self motivated?

BEST MOMENTS
‘It’s a motivation challenge. It’s about unpicking and understanding what is required to motivate. Are you moving towards pleasure or are you moving away from pain to that neutral state?’
‘The things that motivate us internally are actually external things.’
‘You’ve got a big role to play in motivating your people. Don’t just rely on the carrot or the stick. Understand the environmental factors.’
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/

Welcome to episode 200! To mark this event Lee has a fascinating interview with Jim Longton, former senior executive, CEO/MD of major manufacturing businesses in the United Kingdom, USA, Portugal and South Africa.

Jim has had a long career starting in engineering in the 70’s, with experience of the turbulent working environment of poor industrial relations, change resistant work practices and aggressive uncooperative work environments. Jim was intrinsic in changing the culture of the places he worked by introducing a Participation Committee fostering communication between workers and management.
After a long career solving industrial relation problems and setting up and managing production environments, Jim is now available for Consulting, helping you do and achieve your aims and goals. If you need any help or advice implementing changes with regard to improving industrial relations, employee participation in continuous improvement, increasing productivity or total quality improvement - every area of your business, contact Jim and he will see if he can help.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• After leaving school with one ‘o’ level due to undiagnosed dyslexia Jim started as a general engineer apprentice and gathered a Higher National Diploma. 
• When young in the 1970s, Jim experienced and witnessed very bad relations between workers and management.  Small issues led to disputes and weeks of strikes. 
• When Jim rose to a position of high enough influence he fostered cooperation and prevented stoppages and inefficiency by calming and increasing communication and problem solving between management and workers. 
• Jim has never left a job for another seeking higher wages. It has always been for new opportunities. Purpose is more important than payment. 
• Dosulting is consultation based on action. Having retired Jim will now only help people willing to commit to the process fully and respect their people.

BEST MOMENTS

So I went down to the pattern shop and I walked in and I  was completely amazed. This whole woodworking activity is going on in this huge engineering company.’ – Jim 

‘To me it was archaic the way the people spoke to each other, the way that Management reacted and supervisors etc.’ - Jim 

‘What gave you the confidence to try something different and to challenge the norm? – Lee

‘Once you can get rid and eliminate the suspicion, once they trust you, once they realise that they can talk to you and you’ll listen to them, there’s no problem. You’re pushing at an open door, it’s wide open. The problem is always middle management.’ – Jim

‘I knew we could do so much better in terms of meeting deliveries and quality of things and I was more or less getting there, I was right in the middle of firefighting.’ - Jim 

‘Why is everything always in Germany? The industrial revolution started and we did everything. In 1852 in the UK we made 90% of everything that was manufactured in the world.’ – Jim

‘The answer is no. Not unless you absolutely convince me that you are willing to do it. That you are willing to respect your people, talk to your people, take an interest in their needs and their problems because they don’t.’ - Jim 

GUEST RESOURCES

LinkedIn

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jimlongton

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/

Meetings play a fundamental part in a lot of peoples roles and are a huge opportunity if we keep them for just the two key occasions required. Lee details those two circumstances and how you can make the most of a meeting when it occurs.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Communication. To pass information back and forth ensuring the right people are present and the correct data is shared.
• Collaboration. When a task requiring more than one team member requires completion. There are no other reasons in a business context to hold meetings.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Ultimately it's about making things better and improving people and process capability.’

‘I think I truly understand the communication flow. If somebody today on your team had an idea, a suggestion, a challenge, an issue, what is the flow of that information to get it resolved?’

‘Are we asking the right questions? Where does the information stop and how long does it stop?’

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 explains one of the main reasons why Improvement Teams, Change Teams and Lean Teams fail within an organisation and the link between physical fitness and organisational fitness.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If we want to permanently improve our health then we have to make permanent changes to our lifestyle to achieve this.
• Often improvement is treated like a finite project but it reverts at the end so it is best to think of improvement as a permanent change, much like our health.
• We need to change people to fix the critical stuff that’s hurting the organisation at this point in time but we need to treat improvement as an ongoing task.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Typically we treat improvement like projects, but we need to treat it like a way of being and if we treat it like a way of being, as opposed to a start and a stop date, then it is just how we are.’

‘If I was to hold your hand, in say four months time, and walk in and you’ve created this amazing, amazing environment, what does it look like? When you’re looking around, what do you see people doing? What are they using?’

‘You only need to have a project if there is something that is really affecting you today.’

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 has placed a pole on LinkedIn asking when you start your lean journey what is the ultimate measure of success? Is it the tools that you introduce? Is it how people feel? Is it about the output or performance of the process? Currently there are two leaders, feelings and output.

An interesting result bearing in mind not many people start a change process to improve the engagement of their people. When we acknowledge the importance and engagement of people, do we really honestly respect them and ourselves?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Do we properly engage with our people or respect the time of our people, always turning up on time for group meetings?
• The reason we invest in tools and methods is to create an environment for people to flourish, but we don’t often regard the process from that perspective.
• Lean practitioners and improvement practitioners are trained in tools, they’re not trained in influencing people, building relationships, empathy, building trust, better communication which are skills required to develop great teams.

BEST MOMENTS

‘When I wrote the question this is what I was expecting but maybe not as much on the people's side because, typically, when people start a lean initiative or an improvement initiative it is to fix a particular metric.’

‘We become so fixated on the tool that we are trying to shoehorn in or introduce into the process that really the people element goes a little bit wayward.’

‘A lot of the guests that I’ve had on this podcast have in the later stages of their career recognised the importance of this.’

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 chats to the multitalented Ray Newland. With a very successful goalkeeping career under his belt, Ray setup Just 4 Keepers training schools to prepare young talented goalkeepers for work in the football industry. He also brought to market his own goalkeeper sports brand J4K. Alongside all of this, Ray has become a business coach and published six books on mental resilience and self help.  

Lee and Ray talk about how he started out, his entrepreneurial career, his international sports training and clothing brands, his writing, and his plans for the future.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  Ray became a professional goalkeeper at 18 years of age and was coached by Neville Southall, Peter Shilton, Gordon Banks and Joe Corrigan.
• After his goalkeeping career ended Ray became financially independent by property development and ownership.
• Ray is not so much concerned with financial success but with more worldly and down to earth goals.
• Writing self help books was something Ray accomplished while travelling all around the world and being unable to sleep in transit.. 
• Ray plans to become a personal coach and business mentor when he is less busy running Just 4 keepers. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’ll try and keep my intro down to about two hours.’ – Ray

‘I basically had no choice. I had a young family to support and I basically knew that I had to have my own business.’ – Ray

‘There is no other goalkeeper coach in history that has done what I’ve done and has ended up taking the concept around the world.’ – Ray

‘I got frustrated with other authors who would just go on too long and again I always planned to do personal coaching and I’ve done it over the years, helping people personally and in business.’ – Ray

‘I never wanna sell Just 4 Keepers, Lee. I always said I’d do it till I’m 55 and I know it looks like I’ve got 15 years left, I’ve got four years left. I’m 51 next week.’ - Ray 

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/

In this episode Lee talks to David Holmes who has worked in Contact Centres and Customer Operations across Sales, Customer Service and Digital for some of the biggest companies in the UK, currently Operations Director at Cigna Healthcare. Lee and David chat about success and its definition, “harmonious friction”, the team leader role and how open mindedness can make the difference.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Find the job that generates enthusiasm in you.
• Learn to enjoy challenges to your methods and thinking. Having an open mind and being willing to listen is important. 
• There is only negative feedback or constructive negative feedback. Generally it is about something that needs improvement. Positive feedback is affirmation. 
• Being a team leader is about being able to look forward to a destination and then planning on how to get there. 
• It's ok to bring people outside of the business to be critical and challenging in a way that those inside are too invested to achieve.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Just when you think you’ve seen it all, someone comes along and shows you something new.’ – David

‘What is it that excites you about what you do and why? I love working with people, Lee.’ – David

‘That “harmonious friction” generates my passion and I hope I never lose it’ – David

‘Let’s talk about your past actually. What is it that people saw in you to allow you to create this history?’ – Lee 

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's guest in this episode is Phillip Holt, author, operational excellence guru and senior Vice President at GKN Aerospace and a Board Member of the Operational Excellence Society. He studied Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University and Management at the Wharton School of Pennsylvania and the University of Warwick, was an engineer at Gillette and led the Lean Deployment worldwide at Philips for over twelve years. He achieved Lean Master status and has now authored three books, Leading With Lean, The Simplicity of Lean and his latest Leading Lean By Living Lean.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Lean Leader means someone who is focused on making their organisation have the biggest positive impact on its workers and customers.
• A lean business model focuses on improving processes across the value stream in order to eliminate waste and deliver optimised value to the customer.
• To change an organisation to a lean model you have to concentrate on change in the culture and behaviour within the value stream.
• The pandemic has helped destroy the myth that if someone sits at a desk for 50 hours a week they are productive.
• A lean model allows all employees involved to feel positive about the impact they are having.

BEST MOMENTS

‘We talk about work life balance a lot but for me I don’t like that term. For me it’s about having a life in balance.’ – Phillip

‘I started to realise that as I was there for those two weeks that we were changing some parameters, we were changing a process, characteristics. We weren’t changing the value stream behaviour.’ – Phillip

‘I think that people don’t look in the mirror first, they look out the window at other people’ – Lee

‘We want to make GKN aerospace and this industry far better from an operational excellence perspective.’ - Phillip

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/

Once again, inspiration has struck, this time while cooking the kids tea. Lee, in tasting a single piece of pasta, assumed all the other pasta were cooked. Let's face it, he was probably right. But not when it comes to people….people are most definitely not like pasta.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  There are some people and places that try to treat everybody the same. When we try to effect change we give the business reason for that change but that does not enthuse everyone. We need to create personal motivation.
• People's way of thinking is created by the experiences that they have had, creating different approaches and motivations.
• We should be increasing the connection between us and other people so we can understand their thoughts and motives. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘They try to put everybody into a single bucket and expect everybody to have the same outcome, the same thoughts, the same feelings.’

‘If like me you believe that everything stems from thought or belief, that everybody thinks differently then what we’ve really got to do is we’ve got to challenge the thinking of people.’

‘Pasta doesn’t think but people do.’ 

‘We need to feel belonging. The more we understand people the more we belong and together achieve amazing things.’

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/

When we celebrate success are we considering what we are celebrating enough? Do we congratulate our successes enough? In this episode Lee tackles how we should be celebrating success not just more often but changing its focus to good skills and habits.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  We typically celebrate end results, above and beyond, things that exceed expectations. However, we see it as instant failure when they fail to meet our expectations or standards when things are not going as planned. 
• There is as much learning to be done about success as there is about failure. 
• Celebrate success more often. Become familiar with success and the circumstances that cause it, just as you do with failure.
• Do we celebrate the skills and positive habits of our people, or just targets, benchmarks and deadlines? 

BEST MOMENTS

‘I think we find it harder to celebrate stuff than we do to find fault in things. I think we need to redress the balance a little bit.’ 

‘By asking “what are we celebrating” then we become more familiar with celebrating stuff.’

‘If we can truly celebrate the habits and behaviours that we want in our people as opposed to the results that we’re getting, or trust in the behaviours of the right ones to get the results then the results will just come.’

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 talks about an unconventional yet thought provoking analogy between cleaning and successful change initiatives. Lee draws parallels between the four key components of cleaning—movement, cleaning solution, heat, and time—and the essential elements required for effective change. Through this insightful comparison, listeners are encouraged to apply the same rigour and methodology to their change initiatives as they do to everyday cleaning tasks, ultimately aiming to create sustainable and impactful transformations in their working environments.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Four Key Components of Cleaning and Change: The four key components of cleaning (movement, cleaning solution, heat, and time) are paralleled with the components needed for successful change (movement, support, heat, and time).

• Importance of Agitation and Movement: Lee emphasises the importance of agitation and movement in both cleaning and change processes to bring about effective results.

• Need for Support and Heat in Change: Having support (cleaning solution) and introducing heat (conflict or challenge) in change initiatives to drive progress and improvement.

• Time as a Critical Factor: Lee stresses the significance of allowing the relevant amount of time for change to take place and for new processes to be established and sustained.

BEST MOMENTS

"We clean something to make it look good or to return it to its original state or to make it last longer, to maybe remove something from it that shouldn't be on it."

"Do we really have the relevant amount of time? Do we really create enough heat warmth of relationship or challenge to create the most optimal ways of working?" 

"Are you applying those four things to your change initiatives? Or are you just doing it when you get in the shower in the morning?" 

"Saying you know how to do it is not doing it. Saying you know how to change is not changing." 

"We only really improve when we do something different." 

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 has recently suffered a bereavement with the loss of his best friend. Upon his passing Lee asked about life lessons and Lee has shared these lessons with many people including via this podcast. After using these lessons to bring extra value to those he helps and supports he has added real value to his coaching. However, one 4th, hidden lesson has been revealed to help you stay true to these three principles.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The three lessons were be yourself, make good friends and time is limited.  
• Truly understand your motivations and reasoning. In the space between an occurrence and our reaction there is an opportunity to understand our thoughts and change what we do.
• We have an opportunity everyday with everyone to make good friends. All your interactions are an opportunity to make new friends and connections at different levels.
• Make solid use of your time. Recognise you need to act.
• ‘Always make time’ is how we apply these three lessons. Take time to consider our thinking. Take time make good friends and build connection. Take time for the priorities.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I think, fundamentally, to be a better leader, to be a better change person and to be a better person, understanding what these three lessons mean to you could be the difference.’

‘Always being yourself, for me now, is about understanding whether the voice in my head is helping or hindering. Its about I’m in control of that voice in my head and I can share and try to create more positive outcomes as opposed to negative and challenging outcomes.’

‘When you start a video call, when you start a meeting do you just dive into the process or do you create a space for asking different questions.’

‘If time was not limited there would be no real need to do anything, we’d just get round to it. We’d always just do it tomorrow, day after tomorrow.’

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 talks with Lisa Moody, a Senior Change Manager in the Land Registry. She has been in change management for ten years, previously working in local government in service improvement and customer service. People focused skills have led her to her current role.

Lee and Lisa discuss her move into change management, ambition, her civil service role, and how to create a change team with the concept of ‘The Invisible Change Manager.’

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Ambition doesn’t mean striving for the next opportunity, it can just be to do a really good job of what you do day to day. 
• The civil service has currently a focus on digitisation and automation, allowing customers to self-serve and speed up service operation. 
• Improvement is about a better experience for the user of the process whether it be a customer or an internal employee.
• Co-design wherever you can. Work with your stakeholders and the people affected by the change to help craft the solutions. 
• The ‘Invisible Change Manager’ is the concept of the leadership figure of the department being the visible focus of change while actual change management remain background facilitators.  
• Change Management is a natural career step from a process management  perspective, but we are now seeing change managers that are more people focused, relying on the operational knowledge of the team they cooperate with and guiding the change process from a more psychological angle.

BEST MOMENTS

‘The beauty of the civil service is you can move departments, you can move within one department, you can do a whole multitude of different jobs so you tend to find people that do stick around quite a long time.’ – Lisa 

‘It's about making the experience better for whoever is using that process. Ultimately, I guess, everything we do from an improvement perspective should be about that end user, whether it’s the customer, whether it is for us in the civil service, case workers or internal people.’ – Lisa  

‘In those cases be super honest. Be really clear on what’s negotiable. I go back to FNC in these cases. What’s fundamental, what aren’t you going to influence at all. Be really clear about that. Be open and honest.’ – Lisa 

‘A lot of people change that I know, some of them have got egos and they’re in position because they’re the ones that like to have the answer. Have you had any challenges with that?’ - Lee

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 chats to Mark Drager, marketing expert and Canadian fine-haired business consultancy owner. He has worked on thousands of projects for hundreds of different companies ranging from international brands and airlines to small pre start ups. He is also a podcast host of “We Do Hard Things”, brand strategist and speaker.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Mark originally went to film school and left to work in television and eventually a corporate environment producing training materials and marketing.
• To build a company takes time, experience compounds, connections build and skills improve. Overnight success can be perceived, but in the background all the past experience helps support the version of the person people see.
• Be specific. Vagueness achieves very little. Be precise about your goals and they will be easier to aim for.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I started “Phantom Media” in 2006. I was 23, my oldest daughter was only a week old when I decided to do this. My wife had no income and within two months I quit my job, had no money, no income, new born baby, my wife was at home and I was like ‘ Im gonna start this company” - Mark

‘You can show up like an overnight success because people won’t see the work you’ve done in the background. The work you’ve done in the background doesn’t have to be a slog or even linear.’ – Mark

‘If we are vague, if we’re fuzzy, if we’re not quite sure. I’m struggling with this right now. I have a podcast that we are a year and a half into, eighty episodes into and I’ve still not really defines enough who my audience is.’ - Mark

GUEST RESOURCES

Website

https://www.markdrager.com/

Podcast

https://youtube.com/c/MarkDragerYT

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’s job is to get organisations to adopt continuous improvement and problem solving cultures for the long term. There are three high level categories within this process and Rob explains them in this episode.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Finding Problems. You may know your problems or survey your employees or customers to find problems. Find them when they are small by increasing discussion and communication between everyone involved in processes and asking better questions.
• Solving Problems. These are the tools and methodology that you employ to solve problems. Invest in training problem solving staff.
• Sustaining Solutions. Keep those solutions running and involve everyone so they engage with the new way of working.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Typically when people engage us and engage other companies to help them create a problem solving culture or to create an army of problem solvers they want people to be trained in tools and techniques that actually solve problems.’

‘Problem finding is not randomly or through annual data or monthly meetings but through daily conversations, through visuals, through challenging thinking including everybody that's involved in the process.’

‘We treat problem solving like a special event for these big problems. We need to treat it like a Monday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday, a Thursday…like everyday.’

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 chats to Jared, speaker at the Virtual Lean Summit, an online event bringing together experts and leaders from all over the business industry to educate and share their methods on customer care and service, team building and efficient business problem solving. Jared works for the Port of Seattle as the Continuous Process and Improvement Program Manager. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• ‘Lean thinking’ is a transformational framework that aims to provide a new way to think about how to organise human activities to deliver more benefits to society and value to individuals while eliminating waste.
• Jared's day job is creating operational improvements in the busy and varied environment within the Port of Seattle, which is a government agency, during its numerous activities involving both private industry and the general public.
• Jared started work when he was 12! His first job was picking strawberries and selling them to his neighbours.
• While working for Daimler, Jared saved them millions of dollars using simple solutions by asking the right, simple questions. 
• This year's Lean Summit Theme is about going out and achieving a successful and continuous improvement culture within your organisation. It is more efficient to convince people of the advantage of lean thinking than forcing them to do it.

BEST MOMENTS

‘We shortened it on a business card because that’s too long, to the CPI Program Manager. What we do is we help the organisation to really embrace lean thinking and go ahead and think differently.’ - Jared

‘Being able to go ahead and identify the problem, that root cause, is important. I think even more important than that is being able to have a critical eye and asking questions.’ – Jared

‘Construction has always been part of my blood. My Dad, my Uncles, they all started construction businesses. I even worked for my Uncle who had a Finnish cabinetry business.’ - Jared

‘The first day is about embarking on your lean journey. The second day is about establishing a lean culture change. The final day is about embracing lean thinking.’ – Jared 

‘Whether we use the ‘L’ word or whatever improvement methodology we navigate towards is fundamentally about increasing the number of thoughts in our people and reducing the time from thought to conversation to action.’ – Lee 

GUEST RESOURCES

https://www.virtualleansummit.com/

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/

There are certain words that people believe are negative which can, in fact, in the correct context, be considered very positive. Language itself is a challenge due to the understanding and definitions of words changing depending on personal experience and how they are used. 

Lee discusses how important it is to consider this when communicating effectively.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  To understand what has been heard by the person listening to you communicate, one must understand the experience of that person. 
• Failure happens. Mistakes happen. Things go wrong. It is a waste of time to mourn mistakes and failure and not just fix it and move on.
• If failure incurs punishment or ridicule it is more likely that problems will be covered up or ignored rather than dealt with. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘The goalkeeper coach said “part of the goalkeepers job is to let goals in”. Which surprised me at first when I heard it but he was making it acceptable.’ 

‘It would make that process far better because you wouldn’t have people hiding and covering stuff up, manipulating things to make it look better.’ 

‘You want all of those things to be exposed so you can understand when all of those things have happened so you can put them right. If you can’t see it, you can’t fix it.’

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/

Asking the right questions can be a great and essential method of becoming an efficient and effective leader. Often we fall into habits of asking the same questions but what approach should we be taking to affect change and motivate?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The secret of problem solving is are we finding enough problems? 
• Listening is the best way to formulate our questions. If you are attentive then your team will know you value their time and opinion.
• If we want to develop our people and encourage their self development then we’ve got to be asking more than just repeated set questions. 
• Ask questions that keep the other person thinking. You can affect their problem solving by the nature of the questions you present.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I genuinely believe that the secret of asking better questions is by being a better listener because if we are listening more than the person that we’re asking the questions of knows that we are interested in the answers.’ 

‘The first time that we start to listen to the answers that are given we will think about those things that are being said.’

‘The measure of success is all about the thoughts of our people and if we are creating good thoughts in our people we will get more ideas and more suggestions and we will make more improvements.’

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, through his work with teams, has been asked for feedback on how he would assess the teams performance. When reducing the time from thought to conversation to action there are three biases that characterise different groups' approach to actioning ideas. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

•  The Silent Bias. This is when we don’t feel comfortable or confident enough to share what we think 
• The Conversation Bias. We are happy to share ideas but tend to stick at the discussion stage, reluctant to commit and action the idea.
• The Action Bias. We would rather get straight to the action rather than spend time discussing it. 
• The ideal situation is to find a balance between all three.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I think what we have to try to find is a balance for this. We have to try to find a way to navigate through this on an individual and a team level.’

‘You’ve got to create more thoughts in your people. You’ve got to get them thinking differently. You’ve got to inspire and motivate them and challenge the heads of our people.’

‘need to create a place where people can do things and try things themselves and this is a challenge in finding a balance between all three.’

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/

The Golden Circle is a model applied by influential speaker and author Simon Sinek to explain the success of leaders in fields ranging from invention to politics. In this episode Lee explains and contextualises The Golden Circle so you can apply it to your business role.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Simon Sinek is critical of businesses who apply the following in the wrong order. We should start with ‘why’, move to ‘how’ and then to ‘what’.
• Why is it important for the senior leadership team or the change team, HR, team leader, operators? By asking these questions you allow people to buy into what you require from them.
• The how is the differentiator. This is the performance. This is the area that will make you stand out. How you do what you do will define your change. How do you do things differently?
• The what is the result and if you begin with the ‘what’ you fail to establish the structure and motivation to achieve it.

BEST MOMENTS

‘ There’s different purposes for each of these different statements. So, the why. The why do we do it is for people to build connection to whatever it is.’

‘When you’re delivering change the outcome is the ‘what’.’

‘So someone’s bias was towards problem solving, another ones bias was towards a daily meeting structure. Ultimately, those are just tools to help create leaders to ask about questions and all of that stuff.’

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 chats with Josh Gain, founder of The 10x Manager Community, an organised skill sharing group dedicated to helping managers be the best in their current leadership role and preparing them for the next. One of 10x leaderships philosophies is “Management is a title given to you by a company. Leadership is when somebody decides that they are going to create change and impact their team, their business, their industry and beyond. Leadership has nothing to do with job titles, it's all to do with people and their actions.”

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• After studying history at The London School of Economics, Josh began a sales career but always with a mind to starting his own business.
• One of the real challenges in the scaling of high growth business is attracting the best people and retaining them.
• 10x Management is a community driven learning platform where managers come together and share knowledge and insights to ultimately improve in their positions.
• 10x has developed a whole training platform that helps people train in the 12 key areas of management.
• We need new ideas that are implemented or perhaps even fail, to learn. We need to analyse the results and 10x allows you to share these insights with the community.
• Have clarity on your destination. Set clear goals with timelines and measurable results.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I graduated with a history degree and then tried to work out ‘what do I do now with a history with a history degree?’ and I Kind of fell into sales’ – Josh

‘The real problem was, managers need better training. They need to become better leaders. Companies are aware of it and managers are aware of it but no one really does much about it’ – Josh

‘When you talk about those twelve things, how did you identify those twelve?’ – Lee

‘Through all the conversations we’ve been having. Each week we do a Management Masterclass. We bring someone in to speak about what they are great at and how people can actually replicate that.’ - Josh

‘We prompt everybody to reflect into the community. Based on the experience that you’ve had and the insights that you’ve taken in we prompt them to say something or ask a question into the community that can help have a discussion and prompt more ideas from other people to really develop that thought and that learning.’ – Josh

‘I can always get better and I can always improve and there’s always people to learn from.’ - Josh

GUEST RESOURCES

Website ;

https://www.linkedin.com/redir/redirect?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvisit%2E10xmanagers%2Ecom%2F-home&urlhash=821F&trk=about_website

10x on LinkedIn ;

https://www.linkedin.com/company/10x-managers

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 explores the key insights from Carlo Ancelotti's leadership book, "Quiet Leadership." He reflects on the importance of relationships, connection, and authenticity in leadership, drawing inspiration from Ancelotti's approach to managing world-class football teams. The episode highlights the three Cs to becoming a champion: capability of tasks, cultural fit, and contribution to the team. Listeners are encouraged to apply these principles to enhance their leadership skills and team performance.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Importance of Relationships: Building strong relationships with team members, support staff, and superiors is crucial for effective leadership.

• Authentic Leadership Style: Being authentic in leadership, maintaining emotions, and connecting with individuals on a personal level can lead to success.

• Three C's to Becoming a Champion: Focus on capability of tasks, cultural fit within the team, and contribution to the team to create a high-performing team.

• Capability: Clarity of tasks, support, and learning opportunities are essential for individuals to be capable in their roles.

• Cultural Fit: Aligned values, supportive environment, and clarity of vision are key components for fitting into the team or organisation.

• Contribution to the Team: Clear roles and responsibilities, empowerment, and clarity of goals are crucial for making a valuable contribution to the team.

BEST MOMENTS

"He leads by understanding the person... around the importance of connection." 

"There's three Cs to being a champion... how capable are you to do the task?" 

"So how much of a contribution to the team do you make? How much of a contribution do each member of the team make?"

"He would make a point of understanding the person, but then also leading in that way." 

"So the three Cs to being a champion are those three Cs... what you are doing for yourself to make sure that you are as capable as you can be." 

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.

In this episode Lee details two key factors that are essential to driving your improvement project forward. Creating change can be achieved much more quickly by applying these two methods.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We need to be more aware and understanding of the process of forming ideas, expression of ideas and actualisation. 
• The length of time from thought to actualisation, the lead time from idea to action, should be discovered. We should do what we can to reduce that time span.
• Increase the number of constructive thoughts that people have. Engage them so they want to produce results towards your business. Ask them questions more frequently, create structured conversations for them to have ideas and express them.
• Put in place a safe environment. Do not criticise ideas pejoratively that will make your people reticent to express themselves. Understand how comfortable your people are with group or one to one meetings. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘We need to be like magicians and make the invisible visible.’

‘If this is done in a way that is creating the right thoughts in people then you are going to create more positive actions in the goal or destination that you are trying to achieve.’

‘Is it easy for people to see what should be happening now and whether it is or isn’t happening the way that it should be happening?’

‘They’re giving a month for the action because that’s when the next meeting is going to take place. But the action might only be an hour or two hours.’

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 outlines the 3 factors that can lead to the success of any change team within an organisation. He strongly suggests you apply the PIE ; Performance, Image and Exposure. If resistance is something you face, these three factors can positively affect the efficiency of your team.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• This is the main body of what you do, done excellently. It is the fundamental of career success and effectiveness, be good at what you do.
• Do people think of you positively and accept you as a change maker? Do they understand your role and your abilities?
• How many people know the change team? How many can see the impact the change team is having? Are your senior leaders aware of your value and effectiveness?
• These three factors can reduce resistance to any change you effect.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Performance is 10% of this overall pie. Doing what you say you’re going to do and your level of performance.’  

‘What can you do to try to build a stronger image? Do you have a brand? Do you have a logo? Do people understand what it is that you do?’

‘As a leader of a change team it is arguably your role to maximise the level of exposure that the team get with the senior leaders and other departments.’

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 chats internationally! This episodes guest is Nicholas Faribeau, originally from France but currently resident in Canada, who helps people discover their voice by matching their mindset so the two are in sync, clear and understandable. Often peoples voice, the way they present themselves, is confused because we don’t understand how we say things rather than what we say. Nicholas aims to put this right to improve engagement and communication.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• How you speak as opposed to the words you say is important to psychologically engage with our audience.
• When we communicate we tend to speak quickly to transfer information. However, when you bear in mind that we only hear about 10% of what is said to us, the importance of how we speak and making our speech memorable becomes prevalent.
• Now we work from home and with modern telecommunications, voice only is often adopted, so clarity, tone and impression are even more important.
• The first word you speak, the first tone you take determines who you are. The initial ten seconds of communication is key.

BEST MOMENTS

‘I’ve been on two stand up comedy courses. Not because I wanted to be a stand up comedian but I believe that comedians help people feel something emotionally far quicker than most other professions.’ – Lee

‘For example for me it’s more difficult for me to understand an English song because I’m French, buts it’s easy to remember the melody of the music and the tone of the voice of the musician.’ – Nicholas

‘They call me a voice designer because it’s like design your voice, your communication, design your image. Voice designer, it’s a nice word to express myself.’ - Nicholas

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/

There is so much conflicting or contradictory advice on this subject. Lee brainstorms to get to the bottom of this primary dilemma.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If you consider marketing, people recommend that you start small and target your messaging to a niche target, but you need to start big with your target vision.
• When starting with the end goal in mind the start may seem big, but can be broken down into smaller challenges, but most problems seem huge at the beginning.
• If you're leading change, think about the tiny actions you and the people you are helping need to take to get to their goal. 
• If you do go small quickly it is easier to learn from the actions you have taken because you are experimenting as you go. It is more difficult to unpick a complex, large, detailed task.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Is it best to be a mile wide and an inch deep or is it best to be an inch wide and a mile deep?’

‘I think there is something about starting big and starting small because you need to start big on where you're trying to get to, what it is that you’re trying to overcome.’

‘When we think about leaders and leadership, we train people on the fundamentals of the process of being a leader, the back to work interviews, the personal development plans, setting appraisals, but what about the small actions that are required for being a leader?’

‘If you wanted to start flossing your teeth you should make sure that the floss is next to your toothbrush because then you’re stacking it on top of a pre existing habit.’

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/

Today Lee has the immense pleasure of interviewing much lauded author of ‘The Balance of Excellence’ Carl Klemm. The former head of Toyota plants shares his story and wisdom on manufacturing management culture, success and failure, leadership, coaching, writing, team structure, training good habits and learning. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Carl started off as a young apprentice with Vauxhall Motors and continued with them for 23 years ending up as a general manager in charge of plant quality. He then took up a post as General Manager for Quality Assurance with Toyota. 
• He started his own management consultancy sharing his wealth of knowledge he has gathered over so many years in the motor manufacturing industry. 
• The shift between GM and Toyota was a culture shock. GM was a competitive, non cooperative command and control structure. Toyota, however, was a collaborative, planning, teamwork structure.
• A real issue for organisations effecting change is if the upper management or CEO does not want to accept the changes to their own job. There has to be a steady flow throughout the power structure. 
• Top management is busy. They don’t have any spare time so are trained for fast decisions. Persuading them to consider the problem at the point of problem is difficult so get them to do it at least 12 times and they will adopt it as a habit.
• Learning is forever changing and evolving due to the nature of the journey. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘And the President only asked one question, he asked “Why do you want to join Toyota” and I said “I spent four years studying Toyota for GM, including the plant in Fremont in California. Then I came back and tried to implement it and I failed miserably. But I want to succeed so I want to join and I want to learn how its done and then I want to share it.”’ - Carl

‘Coming from being a very successful General Manager in GM to a General Manager in Toyota but realising very quickly that I was an apprentice was really hard to swallow.’ -Carl

‘There is no other way, actually, than doing it. That’s why my first sentence is “I swore never to write this book.” - Carl 

‘I’m working with a national organisation at the minute and I had no influence on where they started and the pilot location, and we are at a point now where we’ve created a rhythm and a communication flow within a single location. What it has highlighted is that before I work with them they’ll have a monthly meeting structure, but then when you introduce a daily meeting structure and its feeding into a monthly meeting structure there’s a huge disconnect there.’ – Lee

‘I’ve written it from a selfish point of view to help me to explain to people, especially top management people, what it is we are talking about and how it all fits together and which bit of it we are working on now.’ - Carl

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/

Language can have positive or negative connotations depending on context and our own personal feelings and experiences, culture and society. Lee has four examples of words that have negative definitions in the world of change and leadership ; failure, problems, conflict and challenge. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• If we are all heading in the same direction and we have the same destination these four words do not have to be negative. It is a safer and better environment if we have more of them, a more open, communicative, accepting and encouraging environment.
• Failure means that you’ve tried something. This is a positive thing as the more tasks or goals attempted the better. Failure needs to be encouraged , not chastised, belittled or singled out.
• The more problems we can find the more beneficial our journey towards our goal is. Problems solved are systems perfected. Hidden problems continue to be just problems. 
• Conflict over differing ideas about how to reach the destination all are pulling towards are useful. Two ideas are always better than one and conflict is part of perfecting methods.
• A fear of being challenged keeps us from creating an open environment with failure, problems and conflict. If you are challenged then that’s an opportunity for you to learn about your approach. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘We are trying to remove problems. We are trying to remove opportunities for failure. But I think we need to encourage more of it.’

‘We are trained in improvement. We are trying problem solving. We prefer problems not to happen and not to occur. But, if we are finding problems, then that means that there are things in our way getting towards where we are trying to get.’  

‘Conflict is just a difference of opinion. And if that opinion is something about the journey or destination then conflict is a positive thing, because you're going to create a better solution or a better outcome because you’ve got two people with two different opinions that can be spoken about openly.’ 

‘Be open to being challenged. How can you create, within yourself, more comfort about being challenged? I work with a lot of leaders and they don’t being asked questions where they don’t know the answer because of the challenge and the conflict that might arise.’ 

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/

If you want to form new positive habits you have to have the intensity, or strength of reason, and frequency to retrain your neural pathways to adopt them. Lee’s consultancy ‘Get Knowledge’ uses this method to encourage people to create a strong collective reason through a jointly owned vision and this is the intensity component of habit forming. Identified positive behaviours are then coached consistently, with frequency, to become habitual. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Lee has developed his own positive habits in relation to his podcasts due to intensity and frequency. 
• Understand your reasons for implementing a change. Bring people on board with your vision. Have clarity and ‘make it real with look, sound and feel.’ 
• Be consistent with your message and disciplined with your frequency and your positive habit will be team wide. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Intensity and frequency in terms of habit forming has been pivotal to what I have been doing through what we’ve been doing at ‘Get Knowledge’ through business improvement.’ 

‘I’ve committed to myself that I’m going to publish a podcast every single week, I’m going to post daily on LinkedIn, post daily on TikTok, post daily on Instagram. And I’m not bothered about the number of followers, I just want to be more conscious about what I'm posting and what ideas will come from it, and hopefully more people will be helped.’     

‘On day one you might not get the answers to the new questions that you’re asking, whether they be for yourself or they be for your team. All the time, by continually asking the same questions you will get better answers.’  

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 has developed an acronym, TEACH, which can keep you informed on how to achieve consistent improvement by changing your mindset. Remember the five essential ingredients that can keep your development going. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• First of all we have to be open to change and be willing to apply the lessons we’ve learnt. Mindset is the most important lesson of all. 
• TEACH stands for Teamwork, Engagement, Accountability, Communication and Humble leadership.
• If you start with these five areas and look to improve them then your productivity, cost challenge or quality challenge might be resolved as a direct result. 
• Teamwork. You may have a working team but you may not have teamwork. What can you do to build trust and have more constructive conflict in your team? Engagement. Only by having a proper relationship with your people can you gain trust, through full engaging discourse. Do they believe in your journey? Accountability. We need to have clarity on who is doing what and when they are going to do it. Communication. Ensure people's interpretations of your messages are correct by staying clear and consistent. Equally ensure you understand what is being said to you and it’s intention. Humble leadership. Be selfless. Be there to help your people. It’s ok to not know answers. 

BEST MOMENTS

‘Those five things really are, for me, the five main things that this ‘improvement’ thing that we all talk about could really solve. The symptoms of an ineffective system or environment create poor productivity, low customer satisfaction, poor quality, increased costs.’ 

‘Trust is situational, its individual. I would trust some people to look after my children but I wouldn’t trust them to record a podcast for me.’ 

‘If we assign tasks to whole teams of people it adds an element of doubt, and we need to start to take ownership of the things that we can do.’

‘People will raise a problem, an idea, an opportunity but then they’ll not be communicated back to, we’ll not close the loop to understand why it can or cannot happen.’ 

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 talks to you about customer experience, (different from customer service), and how you should be thinking about the interactions you have with your clients and everybody within the organisation.   

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• When we analyse a touch point with a customer you should be considering what they see, think, feel, and hear in detail. In this way, you can step away from the process and step into the customer's shoes. This method works for employee experience as well.
• Be aware of how perceptions can build through witnessed action. Every interaction creates an impression. Be aware of how your actions as a leader can create the culture of your organisation.  
• Display reliability, credibility and capability. Every conversation is an opportunity to create a more flourishing and meaningful relationship.

BEST MOMENTS

‘When doing that, when setting the stage, there’s a realisation in people that they have a role to play with other customers. So as a leader, it could be argued that some of their customers are the people that work for them.’

‘We have an opportunity to influence how people feel and think about us and also the organisation, the team or even just their day.’ 

‘Every single interaction and touch point we have with people, how are we with them? How does that make them feel? What conversations are heard and what can they see?’

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/

The second funniest lean guy Lee chats with the funniest lean guy Jake Harrell. Jake has been in various leadership roles in manufacturing and distribution and utilises his seductive personality to move people onto the same page as himself and gain business results through cooperation. Even though barely clothed, Jake still discloses all his secrets on problem solving and motivation. Oh, and dating adventures.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Jake started in hospitality, as the ‘hi, how are you?’ guy. This is  how he learned to be skilled in interactions and full on seduction. 
• You have got to want to solve the problem more than anyone else in the room. Enthusiasm gets everyone's attention. Make it fun and the people will want to engage.
• Collaboration, although not a natural instinct in competitive industries, is the main key to problem solving and the general smooth running of business. Jake is living the dream encouraging people to do this. 
• Just do the things you want to do. Over caution and risk avoidance is no fun. No one ever had a good time putting money in a savings account.

BEST MOMENTS

‘If I walk in and go, “Y’all suck. How we gonna get better? Well you guys know you’re not doing the best you can right now.” That just sucks, right? The animation, the attitude I can bring can make it fun where it's not personal to the individual.’ – Jake

‘All I want is for Lee Houfton?…Hoofton?…Hoogieton?..Hufton? All I want is for him to be successful. If I want that more than I want it for myself people are going to come to me for collaboration not the other way round.’ -Jake 

‘I remember being told by a consultant to smarten my act, get better shoes, stop wearing jumpers, start wearing shirts to actually make it as a consultant because that’s what he perceived was the successful thing a consultant needs to do.’ – Lee

‘Remove that barrier of yourself holding you back. If there’s something dumb you want to get out there and do, do it. Have you ever played Monopoly..ly? Imagine you go round the board, but the only rule is you can’t spend money on anything.’ – Jake

GUEST RESOURCES

Jake Harrell his Linkedin Link: (99+) Jake Harrell - The Funniest Lean Guy | LinkedIn

His video podcast link: A Quality Podcast - John Thacker and Jake Harrell - YouTube

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's latest episode talks about the intricacies of maintaining change momentum and combating loneliness within change management. He shares insights on understanding individual journeys, building belief and trust, leading with connection over tools, and the importance of habits in driving change. Through engaging anecdotes and actionable advice, Lee encourages listeners to embrace the challenges of change management with enthusiasm and purpose.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Understand that everybody is on a journey, including yourself, and recognise where individuals are on their journey to create the right conversation.

• Build belief, confidence, and trust in yourself, the solution, and the organisation to understand and address potential barriers to progress.

• Lead with connection rather than tools to tailor your approach and make it more relatable and effective.

• When creating or breaking habits, focus on the cue and reward, not just the routine, to facilitate lasting change.

• Help individuals move away from pain or towards pleasure, considering the neutral zone as a stepping stone to transition effectively.

BEST MOMENTS

"Lead with connection not with tools because that allows you to tailor your narrative about the tool, the solution, the technique, the thing in a meaningful way and vary your presentation." 

"Don't just focus on the routine and document in the process because if you just create a process and ask people to do it, not everybody will do it." 

"Fundamentally, we're trying to get people to create and have the right motivation, the right reasons for action so that they do the right thing at the right time every time." 

"The toothpaste manufacturers made the reward feel so amazing that everybody then wanted, okay, your teeth are now clean, your mouth feels so fresh." 

"It's not our approach that's broken, it's our approach to change that's broken. And I think just by applying a few different strategies to what we do and how we do it, it can help us overcome some of the challenges that we face today."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.

We all measure stuff. Why? The sole purpose of measuring something should be to learn something, but often its done to prove our worth. Data gathering and counting is time consuming, so what are the best circumstances in which to start measuring?

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We should only measure to learn and understand what things are getting in the way of what we are trying to achieve. What are the measures that allow you to understand that you are achieving your standards. Anything else is superfluous.
• Are you employing effective leading measures? Will they inform you of an impending problem which you can then avoid?
• Measures can be complex so should be easy to understand and provide knowledge, understanding and wisdom to the organisation that they are detailing.

BEST MOMENTS

‘You might be measuring all sorts of different processes, the outputs of different processes to put into a dashboard to go to a monthly meeting. To look good. To make it all green.’

‘If you read the newspaper or the football scores after ninety minutes as a football manager its too late to affect the result of that game.’

‘How can you make sure that the measures give you enough information for the things that you control and can control to make it better?’

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 interviews Becca Francis, who at the age of 34 was diagnosed with ADHD and she’s here to dispel the myths and stereotypes of ‘single parent mums’, ‘naughty boys’ and how she’s been able to turn it into her superpower! 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The importance of looking after your customer facing frontline staff cannot be ignored. If you have higher workforce engagement, it can really deliver customer satisfaction.
• If there’s a gap between changing how business leadership works versus how markets move can leave the whole business outmoded and unattractive to customers and staff alike.
• Being honest and open about a condition and communicating the actual facts of it is the only way to break the negativities and stigmas.

BEST MOMENTS

 ‘It’s a people game, not a process game.’

‘It's about our attention being re-focused on things that are more appealing to us’

‘Do I talk donkey language because no-one else sees things the way I do?’

‘If I can talk about my experiences and that can help one person, that makes me feel like I’ve done a good job. And that’s all I aim to do’

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/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/becca-f1312/https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6823892562441502720/

Lee interviews James Lott, MD and founder of Working Knowledge, a business and education consultancy. Working Knowledge concentrates on improving employment opportunities, guiding people towards the right job for them. Creator of the Digital Market Apprenticeship designed to provide employees with the business skills to shine in their position. He also works with Further Education Colleges, helping them launch young peoples careers with practical guidance and by improving links between the college and potential employers.   

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• James believes in providing young people with career opportunities in entrepreneur led, scale up businesses so they can get a great start to their working lives. He was inspired on this path from teaching sailing to young people and seeing their receptiveness and enthusiasm.
• Lots of people are reluctant to take on young people because they believe the media image of hoody wearing, knife wielding layabouts. When they meet young people they realise that actually they are innovative, creative and inquisitive.
• LinkedIn opens opportunities by offering to chance to present ourselves and our skills in a professional way. When you are young it’s a good idea to have had at least a basic work experience to jump off from.  

BEST MOMENTS

‘It was all built on this passion of ‘what does talent look like, and how do you get that talent into entrepreneurial businesses in order for those businesses to scale and thrive?’’

‘At the same time, in their questioning, because they’re unencumbered by years of experience narrowing our focus, they’re asking the questions we’ve forgotten to ask ourselves often in a business setting.’

‘People talk about transferable skills and they absolutely are there. So go and do something. It could be volunteering as well, people forget about that.’ 

‘Nothing comes to life for free. You cant wait around waiting for it to happen to you.’

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/