Month: December 2020

When you’re setting goals, it’s important to focus on the inputs first. What new investments (in people, technology, etc…), services or offerings, is your organization adding in the coming year that will impact results? And when it comes time to inspect results and see how you measured up against your goals, you have to make sure you’re making the right comparisons.

In high-growth organizations, success is not defined as simply doing better than last year. Year over Year comparisons are only valid if there are no changes to the inputs. Success is defined as planning effectively and achieving results that justify the investments made. Performance vs. goal is the primary comparison in regards to success. Year over year comparisons should only be used as a highlight when we are achieving goals and want to show anecdotal information. Transparency is a dangerous thing if the wrong data is highlighted. If we miss, we discuss, learn, and set action items for better results in the future.

For illustration purposes…..

  1. When it comes to goal setting, the right starting point is to focus on investments/changes being made, and then tying the goals to results that justify such investments. Assume a company has a goal to increase its amount of sales/leads from its existing customers by 10% year over year. Is that a good goal? Maybe, but only if nothing in the organization is changing. What if you knew the company recently invested in/added many new solutions to its portfolio, and the account base and sales/marketing resources are being invested in at a much higher level…… how does it sound now? It is typical for goals to be set at a higher level than the results achieved in a previous period, however to do that as a starting point would be arbitrary. Goal setting should start with careful consideration of the change in inputs.
  2. A business leader announces “Revenue is up by 10%!”. Now assume that the goal was to increase revenue by 20%, and part of that plan was an increase in investments and expenses by 30%. The result of only growing by 10% may mean the company is now in the red. So should the fact that revenue grew by 10% be presented as a success? See how dangerous it would be to use that as a headline announcement? Not only is it the wrong comparison to focus on, but the announcement just changed “what good looks like” to all stakeholders. It is always good to focus on the positives from a motivational stand point, but we must be mindful in order to avoid confusing our listeners.

As leaders we carry the awesome responsibility of putting together the plan and the vision, and for transparently reporting outcomes. Those we lead depend on us to do it right and to accurately report on what success looks like.

Here’s to all of us improving as leaders in the new year!

What advice would you give a Leader of Leaders?

For me, being a leader of leaders comes with many lessons learned. First, if you have leaders who report to you, recognize that all are in different phases of their leadership development cycle. Many who are given leadership responsibilities have not had the benefit of the successes or failures that come with experience. Secondly, only those who exhibit strong leadership potential should be placed in management and leadership positions; and along the way, they must understand they are expected to be or become great leaders. And lastly, we must understand where each person is on their leadership journey. Where there is a need, we must mentor/educate and provide leadership directly. The ultimate goal in being a leader of leaders is that we have a stable of proven leaders, and part of that is filling in and doing some servant leadership to make sure we are supporting them and their team as they grow.

Focusing on this last point a bit more……..a well rounded leader has all the following in check when it comes to their people: 1. Trust/Relationships; 2. Accountability/Inspection; 3. Awareness; 4. Ability to motivate; 5. Accurate assessment of issues/opportunities; 6. Clear goals and mutual commitment; and…… 7. a healthy team culture. All of these are pre-requisites to being respected as a leader. Now look at those you lead and grade them as if you were a member of their team. As a leader of leaders, it is our responsibility to have this level of awareness. It is a mistake to think that by putting someone in a leadership position, that they have it all figured out and are able to provide all the leadership needed right out of the gate. They should be able to experience their own failures, but they need us to be aware of where they need coaching and support, and we need to make sure that while they grow we continue contributing so that they and their team receive the level of leadership deserved.