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Stock markets are hitting new highs. Housing starts are on
the rise and home values may have hit bottom and are trending up. The private
sector is adding jobs and the unemployment rate is improving while, life for
the long-term unemployed or out-of-the-workforce, statistically is not.
Even though U.S. inflation is pegged at 1.6%, every
household that does breakfast and dinner at home is feeling the squeeze of higher
commodity prices, foodstuffs and the fuel it takes to shop. Insurance premiums;
health, auto and liability all are on the rise. Just the other day folks I was
with engaged in that old 'game' of "Remember when tap beers were a dime
and a gallon of gas was twenty-five cents?"
WHAT ELSE IS NEW?
There is a different answer that's
appropriate for the individual investor than might apply to the business leader.
For today, my objective is to stick with business.
Managers ought to be thinking
seriously about what the most significant disruption to their business could be
in the coming months while their charges concentrate on executing the plan that
has been entrusted to them. Those that are complacent and fail to concern themselves with possible
and significant disruptions to their business pay a stiff price for doing so.
It's been five short years since
the economic disruption spurned by loose banking practices caught up with
everyone. Some are convinced banks once again will be at the center of the next
disruptive force that could affect your
business.
READ BETWEEN THE LINES
Neil Weinberg, Editor-in-Chief at
American Banker caught my attention with his recent blog post title,
"Beware of the Banking Bubble."
Let's face it, since the so-called "Dot.com Bubble" disrupted the
easy flow of money thirteen years ago, we tend to pay more than usual attention
to bubbles forming, or worse, those that are about to burst.
Mr. Weinberg voices a concern that
hearkens back to the overall attitude bankers held in 2007 and he fears that
some of the same are surfacing today. Among other things, he notes that
"Compressed net interest margins mean bankers face pressure to under-price
risk to win loan business and to look to other questionable tactics to turn a
buck." Think fees - back-end,
front-end, small print, you name it. Retail and Commercial borrowers and
depositors know what Weinberg is talking about. He then asks a relevant
question; "In what imprudent ways are bankers likely to respond to these
various pressures?" Great question.
Enter stage right, the Federal
Reserve and Ben Bernanke. Edward Luce at The Financial Times opened a recent
piece by stating the obvious, "The Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke has
been the only serious economic actor in Washington." If
you're leading a company today, it goes without saying that the disadvantage of
not being able to print money in order to buy down your own debt handicaps you
against your competitors. The good news is that neither can your competitors do
so. The bad news is banks will make life miserable for lenders when and if
rates head north.
While Luce generally heaps praise
on the Fed Chairman, he acknowledges that, "Without the Fed's easy money,
the stock market would be languishing and unemployment would be rising."
As a former portfolio manager, this scares the (insert your own) out of me. Mr. Weinberg quotes from Moises Naim's
new book, The End of Power, wherein the author accurately noted that
"When the Fed has met a new problem it has usually engineered a new
solution." Note that the Fed has signaled its intent to discontinue this engineered strategy once unemployment
falls to 6.5%. Many are urging Bernanke to curtail the practice sooner.
MANAGE THE DISRUPTIVE FORCE
Leaders of any size company ought
to be thinking about the next disruptive force that will affect their business
and in so doing will make a huge mistake if banking isn't on their short list.
Everything from short-term lending to insurance premiums will be adversely
impacted when the Fed halts the presses leading to higher interest rates and a
less than subtle upward inflationary course.
This is a discussion that must
take place within companies, now. Strategy considerations should include
everything finance related, including the unorthodox. It might make sense to
renegotiate a higher rate on your current short-term or line of credits and
lock them in for as long as possible. It might make sense to take advantage of
rates and increase your debt on the balance sheet if a three to five year term
is offered. If you've contemplated selling out, it might make sense to do it as
soon as practical while cheap money is still available to your potential
suitors. In other words, pull your team together and put all of the banking
"If's" and "Might-make-sense" ideas on the table.
Ben Bernanke has been frequently
reminding whoever is listening that "There is only so much the Fed can
do." So, manage the potential disruptive force a change in Fed policy will
bring to business and banking practices. Move it up on your to-do list, now.
As you if you didn't have enough to
concern yourself with!
Jim Naleid is a Life-long Entrepreneur, Change-Agent and Thought
Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a group of executives
to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
Drawing from my own experience, whether leading a division
of or building from scratch, no one, including myself, ever asked what or how
my job was actually defined. I was there to "run the company." Wasn't that obvious?
In the ten years since leaving a nearly 25-year career in sell and buy-side investment management it has occurred to me that many, too
many, of us have led and defined our roles by assumption rather than by
clarity. We just "ran the company."
LACK OF DEFINITION
In either case, that of a business owner/entrepreneur or
executive that started out lower on the ladder and now is in the C-suite (or facsimile
thereof), to my surprise, a great many have found themselves with the
responsibility of either running a company or a significant division of it
without a clear idea of who they are,
why they are and what they are determined to do and how.
In my role as adviser counselor or coach; common questions I
ask of those depending upon me are meant to get leaders to focus on a few very
important things.
·
Who are you?
·
What's your job description?
·
Who wrote or defined your role?
·
Are you functioning in that role, as described?
·
How do you see yourself?
·
Have you written your own description of that
role?
·
Why not?
We could go on and on with an endless list of questions like
these. It just surprise me to find that in virtually all cases,
(non-scientific) leaders plow along doing what they believe is expected of them
while rarely thinking about the need to clearly define themselves and the role
that is not only expected of them but the role they want to play within their organizations.
Once a leader clearly defines who they are and why, they
then ought to do the same for each one of their Direct Reports.
WE NEED A...
For the sake of this discussion, let's assume the owner or
CEO is the one that decides a position needs to be filled. A discussion with
the in-house HR professional follows. Perhaps an outside search firm is engaged.
The leader has something in mind and ultimately someone is going to write a job
description and initiate the search.
Would you be surprised to learn that it isn't uncommon for
the professionally drafted Job Description and the reality of what the CEO
wants don't match? There may be two primary reasons why that happens. One, the Owner/CEO
hasn't clearly defined their own role and the second becomes as obvious; they
haven't personally and clearly defined the role of the talented individual they are seeking.
RECRUITING v. COACHING
Imagine a Head Coach that sends out talent scouts without
clearly defining the precise athletic skills, qualities and demeanor of the
talent they want. We're all too familiar with athletes that were said to be
"the most sought after" but for whatever reasons don't fit or
simply flop. Why does that happen?
There are numerous reasons. When and if the Head Coach leaves
the search up to others while not clearly defining themselves, their objectives
and exactly what they expect of the assistants, and ultimately the athletes,
the results speak for themselves.
BEST LEADERS TAUGHT BY BEST COACHES
"The breakthrough companies we visited were filled with
great coaches - people skilled at helping people do their very best." Keith McFarland includes a great discussion on
the topic under the heading, "The No. 1 Job Of A Leader: Coaching" in
his terrific look at high performing companies in Breakthrough Companies.
McFarland there notes that, " If
managers focus too much on getting the right people on the bus, and not enough
on developing the people they already have on the bus, you can bet that bus is
headed for some kind of fender bender or worse."
As we all pay more attention to this need and responsibility
for leaders to reconsider who they are and why they do what they do, it is critically
important that leaders also accept the responsibility they have to clearly
define themselves, what they expect of their Direct Reports and finally, to
give clear definition to what their company is and why. No one in the HR
department can or should be doing this for them.
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a
group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with
Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
The
Breakthrough Company; Keith McFarland; Crown Publishing; p.214, 215
"A name is better than
good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s being born... Better
is the end afterward of a matter than its beginning. " (Eccl. 7: 1, 8;
NWT)
A
former colleague of mine, along with his aged father and siblings, put his
mother to rest this morning. Yesterday afternoon a bright February sun splashed
the Fellowship Hall with warmth as well-wishers and family friends displayed
their love, concern and support for the family. Their mother fought off cancer
for sixteen years and only in the most recent two did its debilitating effects
extract the most from her. She led a bountiful life that fell shy of 87 years
by just two weeks.
In
many respects there isn't anything particularly special about this except for
those she personally nurtured, influenced and served. You know and likely have
lost wonderful people just like my dear friend's mother.
TURN, TURN, TURN
Many
my age are very familiar with Solomon's words from those penned in the bible's
book of Ecclesiastes, the third chapter. Pete Seeger's "Turn, Turn, Turn
(To Everything There is A Season)" was popularized commercially by David
Crosby and Roger McGuinn, the prominent two of the five that comprised The
Byrds. Turn, Turn, Turn though written by Seeger in 1959 wasn't recorded until
1962 and, as a single, went to the top of the charts in 1965 after the Byrds
recorded and released it on the Columbia label.
Setting
that aside, less often than other popular biblical verses, those noted above
from Ecclesiastes the seventh chapter have a certain application as we contemplate
and celebrate one's life passing.
The
reasons I decided to highlight this particular woman's life and death with the
objective of raising the issue of one's "leadership legacy" are many.
Like numerous others of her generation, the child of immigrants, she was born
in the Midwest, schooled there, graduated from a small college in Minnesota and
went to work to support her husband while he finished school after serving in
World War II. Both eventually became educators with a desire to serve and teach
young ones from Whitehall, WI to Tripoli, Libya and that they did. You and I
know there is a substantial leadership legacy embodied here and it is safe to
assume it has less to do with students who sat in her classrooms than it does
the impact she had on some of their lives, forever.
APPETITE FOR LEADERSHIP
Leadership
is a fascinating thing and of course today, we talk and write about constantly.
There is obviously a great appetite for Leadership Lessons as evidenced by the
plethora of books, seminars, blog posts and endless opportunities for business
owners and executives to improve their lot by paying attention to and applying
even a small share of what is available to them.
Thinking
back on my business career and leadership positions I was privileged to serve
in, I don't recall ever being asked about what I was doing to assure that my
leadership legacy would include those things I considered important when I
finished. I wish someone had.
The
point Solomon was making, of course, was that at the beginning of life, as
happy an occasion that is for most parents, the newborn has yet to contribute
to the family and society as a whole. It is only at "the day of
death" that someone who had the responsibility of leading any other single
or collective group of humans beings can be lionized for the good or bad they
undertook as leaders. It is my belief that those who accept and actively engage
in leadership ought to think about and answer the question I was never asked.
THINKING AHEAD - YOUR LEADERSHIP LEGACY
You've
heard or had the experience in one way or another when the theoretical question
is asked, "If you were to write your own eulogy today, would you be
satisfied with it?" Our tendency may be to cooperate with the facilitator
of such an exercise but readily set the thought of it aside once we step away
from it. The reality is that we must give thought to our leadership skills as
it relates to a leading a "High Performing Company" just as we must
seriously map out the direction we intend to take the company or enterprise we
lead.
Business
owners and CEOs have to be reminded that a well-executed exit strategy isn't
something results from a happenstance notion to do so. Many do lose sight of
the fact that often times the planning required for the "Exit" is far
more important than the planning to begin. Not unlike the difference between
birth and death and I say that in anything but morbid terms.
So
then, what do you want your "leadership legacy" to include and if it
is to be a true legacy, what impact would you care to leave on those you have
the privilege to lead? The leaders that led me didn't resonate with me because
of earned or inherent wealth created for themselves or financially invested
stakeholders. That isn't to say some of them didn't achieve great financial success,
but that happens to be the least of their qualities that comes to my mind.
Those
that have a left their leadership legacy with me did so out of a generosity of
spirit, firm but kind guidance, a sharing of well-timed wisdom and doors that
were to be closed only if I pulled them shut before me. We could argue that
certain people just have that ability and without much thought, gave their
best. While that may be so, it is my contention that a leader who consciously
does the same now will not be easily forgotten by those that benefit from that
determination.
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a
group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with
Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
Songwriter's Lessons on Innovation, Creativity and Ingenuity
Whatever your preference of music happens to be; are you one
that gives much thought to what it took to write and produce your favorites
songs? My guess is that most of us don't.
COMMON THREADS
There is, however, a
leadership lesson to be taken from songwriters of all genres. To prove my assertion,
pick up a copy of Paul Zollo's Songwriters
on Songwriting (Expanded Edition; De Capo Press 1997). The book is a compilation
of Zollo's interviews with the likes of Pete Seeger, Willie Dixon, Livingston &
Evans, Burt Bacharach, Hal David, Carole King, K.D. Lang and many, many more.
All approach their craft in their own unique ways and all have written songs of
untold numbers that have never been heard or popularized. The common thread is
that they wrote, some often, some not so. At times the music came first and the
lyrics followed or vice versa, but they wrote.
Willie Dixon, who died at 75 in 1990, and known by many as
the "Father of the Blues" wrote thousands of songs. Like so many
things, the 80/20 rule applied to Dixon's originals and the relatively few that
produced royalties once well-known artists recorded them.
David Crosby on the other hand admits that songwriting
hasn't always come easy and unlike his good friend Neil Young, Crosby's songs
came few and far between. Zollo attributes Crosby's patience in the
process as the key that unlocked the
likes of "Wooden Ships" and "Deja Vu," songs that catapulted Crosby, Stills and Nash to
fame in the late 60s.
DIFFERENT PATHS
While Dixon and Crosby worked from opposite ends of the
creativity process, both produced their results based upon personal experience
while acknowledging that not everything that came to mind, heart or soul was going
to meet with success. Keep in mind that
the floors of songwriter kitchens, basements or music rooms are littered with
"failed" compositions.
CEOs and business leaders that come to the conclusion that
innovation and great ideas can be nurtured through a disciplined process, in
many ways, go about it as songwriter's do. Willie Dixon told Zollo that his
"blues" were all based upon facts and contrary to the tendency for
most to think of the "blues" as songs of woe and lamentation, Dixon's
tunes were predominantly filled with joy and hope of better things to come.
Crosby, on the other hand, told Zollo, "I can't
legislate a song into being, it just will not happen for me. I can make a space for it to happen, and sometimes it
will come and fill the space."
Innovation comes about this way as well. In the same interview Crosby went on to say, "I'm sure we don't really know how the creative process works...you
know it comes every which way."
ONGOING CHALLENGE
Many leaders I've spoken to and work with struggle with
innovation, creativity and ingenuity and yet all of them realize that without these,
there may be little or no future to contemplate. Today an internet search of
the word "innovation" brings back 80 million 400 thousand results.
It's obviously an important topic that has provided fodder for an endless
stream of how-to blogs, posts and white papers, not to mention complete MBA course
offerings.
The fact is that we will continue to talk about
the ongoing need
to innovate, create and ingeniously bring new products and services to market
and we will do so in many different ways. Business leaders that have yet to
successfully unleash the creative, ingenious and innovative minds within their
organizations should at a minimum, learn a thing or two from songwriters.
Perhaps Crosby put it best when he said he couldn't "legislate (insert
'innovation, creativity or ingenuity') a song." But, when he made a "space for it to happen," in time he'd find that space to be filled.
Quite simple, isn't it? Provide the space and buy out the
time. Collaborate when necessary. Play it one way. Try it another. It doesn't
matter how many attempts end up on the drawing room floor. What matters is that
you and those with you are frequently writing new scores.
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a
group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with
Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
Bob Marley's Lesson for Leaders
When this 'pre-post' idea started rattling around my head on
Friday, I had no idea that a 'Bob Marley
Tribute' was on tap for the 55th Grammy Awards but the timing couldn't have
been better.
Reggae, the colors of the Ethiopian flag, green yellow and
red horizontal fields, the floppy knit 'Rasta' caps, the cannabis leaf,
dreadlocks and Jamaica contribute to the known legacy of the devout Rastafarian
Bob Marley evidently was.
One look at me and you'll conclude I'm obviously not a Rastaman and although I did inhale several
decades ago, I cannot lay claim to doing so in the pursuit of finding the
answers to deeply spiritual concerns.
Here's another thing; for most, cannabis is associated with
being laid back, way back. Admittedly, Marley's music held deep meaning as he
addressed social concerns, but his performances were not anything close to
being laid back. High energy, soulful from the Island Heart is more like it.
DON'T BE NO DRAG
"Lively Up Yourself" is not among his most remembered,
I've always liked it.
"You're gonna lively up yourself and
Don't be no drag... You
rock so you rock so
Like you never did before..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDnNqsy7rYE
Leading a company as an owner or Chief executive is also anything
but a 'laid back' easy-as-you-go responsibility. Everyone that's been there or
is currently doing so gets that. What some miss though is the need to
"Lively Up Themselves" and avoid
being "no drag" on the
organization they lead but instead, to figure out how to "rock like they never did before."
The core competencies required of an executive are many and
well documented and this isn't to discount any of them. It has been my
experience that one key, one very important key or core competency to superior
performance is lost in a leader's lack of 'liveliness' or more plainly, a sense
of humor.
HUMOR AS AN EMOTIONAL COMPETENCY
David McClelland's study; "Identifying Competencies
with Behavioral-Event Interviews,"
concluded that "Several of the emotional Intelligence (EI) competencies
most strongly tied to humor were in the social awareness or relationship skill
domain, as one might expect, since these are the most visible socially." Further the author(s) noted, "... that
for these gifted leaders the expression of many or most EI competencies often
came via the artful use of humor - and that this was in itself a basis for
their success as leaders."
Let this sink in. Goleman et al found that, "What's
particularly telling, though, was that those successful leaders use of humor
strongly correlated with the very emotional intelligence competencies we have
found to be key to a leader's superior
performance." (Underline, italics, mine.)
You've met enough leaders in your day to know the difference
between one who understands the artful use of humor and one that doesn't. You've
also worked with or alongside persons who, perhaps by default, are granted or
assigned leadership roles that are a drag, personally and professionally. What
is striking though is that many leaders, when away from their business
responsibilities, possess a sense of humor but find it unthinkable to allow
that to be enjoyed with their colleagues, direct reports, customers or whoever
may benefit from it.
I've taken some liberty with equating "liveliness"
with a sense of humor but, here's the deal; you may be a well-intentioned, skillful,
competent and successful leader in your own right. You may even rank high on an
Emotional Intelligence scale. The bad news is that if you don't have and don't
believe you are able to acquire a sense of humor, you may just have to accept
good results. Superior results may elude you.
For those who are recognized by friends or family for possessing this important asset, if it's not being utilized artfully within the
scope of your work-a-day responsibilities, readjust your thinking. "Lively
Up Yourself" for superior results.
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a
group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with
Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
Baseball aficionados will be talking about Stan Musial for
some time. The famed, life-time St. Louis Cardinal died at the age of 92 a few
weeks ago. He spent his entire career in the same uniform. While he played
during an era of some more notorious characters, like DiMaggio and others,
Musial did something none of the others ever came close to. His career-high
strikeouts during a season was 46. Think of that. Over 22 years he walked to
the plate somewhere in the neighborhood of 11,000 times, hit the ball 3 out of
ten times at bat, struck out one in ten times, and walked or got hit by pitches
the others. There is good reason he was the National League Batting Champ seven
times.
He was a humble man.
The fans loved him and he loved them back.
SOME HAVE IT, SOME DON"T
During the 1990s my wife would travel to Florida with me
during baseball's spring training. My clients were young, professional baseball
players already making millions or about to. While the vast majority of those I
served were outstanding young men, there were those that were simply ingrates,
spoiled by doting parents or lacking in social grace for one reason or another.
Some of those I had the privilege of working with are still associated with the
great game either in the front offices or the dugouts as coaches in the majors
leagues. Many simply went back to a life that includes hard work and caring for
their families. Others are broke, have been in jail or have sullied the game
with their doping antics.
I didn't know Stan Musial personally. I did watch him on a black
and white TV screen as a kid and was among many who pretended to be 'Stan the
Man' in our empty-lot pickup games. One of those spring evenings we dined in a St. Petersburg Beach restaurant. I was 'blown away' when I realized we were
sitting just a few tables away from this living legend and his wife who were
enjoying a quiet evening of their own. No one was bothering 'The Man.'
A ONE TIME, UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE
When we finished eating and were making our way to the door,
my wife interrupted my astonished rambling, "That was Stan Musial, can you
believe it Hon, that was Stan Musial;" with, "You're not likely to
ever have this opportunity again, just go say hello and tell him how you
feel."
Overcoming my own apprehension, and really, a respect for
his privacy, I went back. He smiled and extended his hand. I apologized and he
reassured me not to worry. He asked my name and pulled out one of his famous,
printed cards and wrote the brief note you see above. We spent less than a
minute and I'll never forget it. There are boxes of signed caps and balls in my
basement but none as precious as this.
Shortly after Musial's death, Mike Leuchtfeld of Red Bud, IL
who is a notable collector of baseball memorabilia, said that,"Because Musial was so approachable and willing
to sign just about anything placed in front of him, the higher volume of
autographed items will hold down prices in the collectibles market."
THE IRONY OF MISPLACED VALUE
Reading between the lines, if a celebrity of any profession were unapproachable, unfriendly or just too full of themselves to readily
scribble their signature on a piece of anything, it will be more prized. Isn't
that an odd reality?
Put some of this in a leadership context. Now, mind you I didn't
do exhaustive research for this post and can't say what kind of a leader Mr.
Musial was as a player in the club-house, on the field or in his post-playing
days. From my experience though, I can tell you that the athletes I met who
were the antithesis of 'Stan the Man' were not liked by their teammates, didn't
consider the value of their supporters and showed little gratitude to other
professionals in their hire.
The leadership qualities Stan Musial displayed, however, were
plain as day and statistically unshakable.
A 'MUSIAL' KIND OF LEADER
Leaders of his ilk are dependable, loyal, grateful, generous and firm but kind. They don't need to
strike out in ratios like Babe Ruth did to make a lasting mark on their craft. They
influence others with a quiet competence that becomes emblazoned in the legacy
of timeless leadership. It is a leader who can readily place their signature
where it has lasting meaning that deserves to be included in an elite group of
men and women known as genuine leaders - the kind we like to work for and that
like us equally well for working with them.
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a
group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with
Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
“It’s time to stop talking about trust and start doing
something about it...” wrote
+Barbara Kimmel, Executive Director, Trust Across America as an introduction to
+Frank Sonnenberg's Managing with a Conscience: How to Improve Performance
Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment (2nd edition). It's no wonder in
that Sonnenberg refers to the quality 100 times in his book. [ Don't mistake the following for a review,
however, I will highlight a few additional points Sonnenberg makes.]
"Trust" shows up on everything from US currency to
who knows how many corporate mission statements and untold number of
leadership-themed books, not to mention endless philosophical and moral relationship
treatises.
Willing to make an uneducated guess, it may be that 80-90%
of CEOs and business owners give lip-service to trust and may even believe in
their heart-of-hearts that they both trust their employees and can be trusted
themselves. If that appears to be hyperbole to you, forgive me.
This topic of trust, particularly as it relates to business
governance and leadership, is important enough to talk about often. As a TEC Chair, I work with a terrific bunch of business owners and CEOs and all
are challenged when it comes to trust. On the flip-side of what I stated
above, many owners and CEOs find themselves vulnerable because deep
down inside they may actually distrust some of their colleagues. We could go
round and round on that but for the leader who actually does trust his direct
reports and senior managers, that leader must make it absolutely clear that's
the case.
A real-life example that comes to mind is that of a CEO who,
for several months, was having misgivings about one of his senior managers. The
problem arose from the sense that this manager didn't seem to bring much "to
the table." The manager had been on board prior to this CEO's tenure and
as far as she was concerned, she was performing every bit as well as she had
always been. Neither knew what the other was thinking.
I listened to this through several meetings. Influenced by
what was being shared, the only normal thing to do was to ask, "Why?"
Why hadn't something been done about this? Why hasn't this been discussed
specifically with the manager? Why are you allowing this concern to affect the
team? Why don't you just get rid of this problem? Quit procrastinating!
Then one day, something very important occurred. A
vendor was visiting the company to discuss a significant matter that involved
this manager's department and was worthy of including our CEO. During the
course of the presentation and ensuing exchange, the manager noticed that our
CEO had little to add to the conversation.
Call it insecurity or whatever you'd like, but during the next
one-to-one meeting between them, the manager shared that she had grown very
uncomfortable during the meeting and suggested the CEO had chosen to remain
silent in an effort to allow her to just "hang out there;" play the
fool, so to speak.
Our CEO wasn't sure how to respond but was smart enough to
share the experience with his wife who brought up the issue of trust.
It became clear to our leader that a genuine conversation
with this manager needed to take place. Clarity of expectations and the
groundwork for trust had to be established. You see, he didn't question the
skill and the ability of the manger and actually trusted her expertise and judgment.
He had not bothered to communicate that but mistakenly assumed she knew it was so.
Soon thereafter another meeting was scheduled and the CEO
humbly requested an opportunity to set matters straight. With care and forethought,
he expressed that, indeed, he did trust this manager. His silence during the
vendor meeting was due to his sense that he just didn't have anything to add
and, in fact, he was a bit sheepish due to the reality that he hadn't spent
enough time educating himself on the subject. He apologized for that.
He also took the opportunity to 'reset' with the manager.
They discussed their mutual expectations of each other and both agreed to work
at improving their communications.
Sonnenberg wrote, " Employees
have the right to know that their employers have confidence in them and in
their abilities. People do not like being second-guessed or micromanaged. They
want to know that management trusts and respects them to do a responsible job.
This leads to superior employee performance. "
You guessed it. There was no need to replace this manager.
This is just one simple example. Our pursuit of high-performance leadership must include trust
and a forum that provides opportunity for the leader to teach, to coach, mentor
and express his or her confidence in the team chosen. The CEO must allow for
and demand the same of his direct reports and their direct reports all the way
downstream.
It may be easier said than done for many but let me share
one more piece of sage advice from Sonnenberg's book;
" Changing to a
more open and trusting environment requires letting go, unlearning many
management practices of the past. That is not easy and does not happen quickly.
It requires managers to leave behind many skills, sources of status and power,
and implicit assumptions about the workplace that were formulated during past
experiences."
Barbara Kimmel couldn't have been more right and if you, as
a leader, haven't given this some serious thought lately, revisit the subject.
Chances are, your performance and theirs', will greatly improve.
Jim Naleid
is a Life-long Entrepreneur,
Change-Agent and Thought Leader, Managing Director of Naleid & Associates
and Regional TEC (“The Executive Committee”) Chair leading a
group of executives to become Better Leaders, Making Better Decisions with
Better Results. http://www.linkedin.com/in/jimnaleid
Sonnenberg, Frank K. (2011-12-22). Managing with a
Conscience: How to Improve Performance Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment
(2nd edition) (Kindle Locations 9-11). .
Kindle Edition.
Sonnenberg, Frank K. (2011-12-22). Managing with a
Conscience: How to Improve Performance Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment
(2nd edition) (Kindle Locations 648-652).
. Kindle Edition.
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