Category: Growth

There would be little need for leadership if…….

There would be little need for leadership if all subscribed to the notion that they should not depend on someone else telling them what to do to be successful. Required levels of performance, mentorship, and accountability will always be key elements of leadership, but who rises to the top? It is typically those who put their own plan together or augment the standard with their own level of awesomeness; it is those who are strategic thinkers and who come up with solutions, find new opportunities, and push past the limits of what has been done in the past.

Finding/developing true leaders is the largest never-ending leadership challenge. Getting others to find their passion and to unlock whatever mental block is holding them back from being the absolute best – that is it – that is the leadership challenge. And in every organization, leadership is needed at all levels; Sales Managers need sales people to be Sales Leaders,  Executives need Managers to be Leaders, Delivery Teams need those delivering services to be Leaders, Customer Service needs all representatives to be leaders in how they interact with clients, etc.

What are some of the things you do to assess people and cultivate future leaders?

Many high-growth organizations use a formal Growth Operating System; We use EOS, and one of the concepts is to tie in your Core Values to how you assess yourself and teammates. Here is example of how we use our Core Values to assess one another.

WE ARE FANATICAL ABOUT CLIENT SUCCESS         
Demonstrates personal accountability to client (internal/external) success
WE DO THE RIGHT THING. ALWAYS.                            
Consistently demonstrates a high level of character and integrity
WE INNOVATE AND EVOLVE                            
Seeks and suggests ways to improve processes/products/services       
WE ARE FUELED BY CRUSHING GOALS      
Consistently achieves personal goals and does their part in team goal achievement
WE ARE UNREASONABLY PICKY ABOUT OUR TEAMMATES             
Considered a great teammate by others; has a great attitude and excels in doing their part
WE EXPECT & EMPOWER OUR TEAM TO GROW
Takes ownership of their own growth and development

Core values are not just about an outward facing identity; they are also crucial in evaluating what success looks like internally and having all aligned. In the context of this message, I believe they can also help coach rising stars!

Leaders understand that large opportunities are also Awesome Responsibilities.

Any significant opportunity is larger than the individual leading it. The outcome (success or failure) will impact others as well as the organization. Because great leaders look at large opportunities as responsibilities, their success rate is much higher than others. Here are a few things they do to ensure large opportunities have successful outcomes:

  1. They think long and hard about the opportunity before they sign up
  2. They check themselves for the juice they and their team have in the tank; it will be needed because things seldom go as planned.
  3. They make a plan and ensure they have the right team and resources
  4. They set up inspection points
  5. They celebrate the small wins and learn from the small failures along the way

Successful outcomes require great leadership and teamwork, which makes being the leader an Awesome Responsibility.

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.

“You are either a leader of leaders or you are doing all the leading”

For high growth organizations, people and leadership are everything. As an organization grows and each leader’s responsibilities grow, the ability to effectively transition from being a manager, to being a leader, to being a leader of leaders, is what will determine one’s professional growth as well as how effective they are in contributing to the growth of their organization.

The level of leadership needed varies based on the size of the organization and/or each team:

“Small” (teams of 15 or less, with no mid-level management) teams: It is ok for the leader to be doing most of the leading while developing other leaders within and building their outside network so that when the time is right, there is a plan to advance the level of leadership.

“Mid-size” (teams with mid-level management) teams: Management must be progressing as leaders. A growing organization requires consistently ratcheting up the level of leadership in order to have cohesion rather than friction. All have to be signed up for that expectation…….it is all about having a Growth Mindset, which means that a leader who is developing other leaders should be weary of those who are negative or seem to fight growth as if it is an opposing force, rather than an initiative they are responsible for advancing.

“Large” (teams with leaders of leaders, and leaders of mid-level management) teams: The trend continues where a leader’s success hinges even more dramatically on the effectiveness of the leaders they lead. Being a leader of leaders is a different skillset/approach; there is a higher leadership expectation, and much less of a management effort expected in regards to the relationship. Mentorship, Accountability, Teamwork, and giving a higher level of Autonomy are keys to success.

Even at the highest levels, leaders and leaders of leaders have to show up every day ready to learn and become better – especially in high growth organizations. The one constant is that as teams increase in size, the impact of leadership increases exponentially.

“Leaders know when to leverage their leaders”

Everyone has a boss. Here are some guidelines of when and when not to leverage others when it comes to leading our teams……

When to leverage:

  • When you do not have decision making authority
  • When an item is material enough and you need advice before making a decision
  • When you are already all-in, but need some additonal support to get to the next step

When not to leverage: When it is something fundamental to the success of your team, yet you yourself are not behind the initiative. Belief has to start with you as the leader of your team and leveraging others absent of this will only deminish your influence and ability to successfully lead.

If you ever find yourself conveying to the team that a new initiative must be adopted due to someone else’s agenda, it is a good idea to stop and spend time with your leaders to fully understand (debate if needed) the initiative, find purpose, understanding, and get behind it, and then focus on how to communicate it to your team as their leader. Your team has to know where you stand before there can be any positive momentum.

 

As personal circumstances change, self-assess and “adjust you” as a first step.

We all go through changes in life, and every change has an impact on the trajectory of what happens next. Some changes we control and some we do not, but what we can always control is how we deal with change. Just speaking from my own experience…… I remember when I was in my twenties, which was when my role at work was mostly sales related. I prided myself on being one of the hardest working and most efficient sales people, which is what I knew I had to be in order to create enough business to scale to our company to the next level. Then I met my future wife and got married at 29. Of course this was a great change, and one that made me realize I needed to make some adjustments to me and how I spent my day so that I could spend quality time with her, while not letting my foot off the gas pedal in regards to my career and our company. I knew I did not want to give up my health and at the time I was working out in the evenings. My wife is an evening person and I am a morning person, so my self-assessment was that I needed to switch my workouts to happen before she would wake up, and I would work a bit later, so that when I got home, it would be home time and no more work.

Then at 32 we started having babies. We had our first baby girl and I realized I could not work late hours any longer. I did the self-assessment and realized I needed to get my non-interruption work (working when others are not, to focus on strategy/catch up items) done before my workout, so that I could come home around 5:30 p.m. or 6 p.m., rather than an hour later. The diagnosis was that my 5:15AM wake-up time needed to shift to 4:15AM. Done.

Then….. I ran out of my own 24 hours. I had taken away most of my “me” time, while still preserving my 1 hour alone time, my workout, and my family time. There were no more efficiencies to gain; so it was either accept that the professional pace could not continue and just settle for “normal”, or stay dedicated to growth on behalf of our clients, employees, and all other stakeholders. I chose the latter which meant bringing on additional leadership (and me changing regarding giving up leadership of certain areas), who had to be like-minded with similar drive and commitment to growth. I also had to shift my focus to making sure our management team continued to be solid, growing, and have the right mindset. If I had not made these choices, we would not have grown from 46 employees to 120 in the last three years.

In summary – had I known all the personal time changes I would need to make in order to continue having the GWC (“Get It”, “Want It”, and have the “Capacity” to do it) factor, I could have really been a superstar in my 20s; life was much easier, however we don’t know that until we experience each change in life. The main point of my message is that we all control how we choose to react to change, and we should never fall victim to believing outside factors are contributing to our new capacity issues we experience, without doing our own self-assessment and making changes to our own disciplines first.

The choice can also be to not change; just be conscious about it and recognize that all the factors around you have not changed and there will be issues to address and ultimately changes you will need to make so that you can stay balanced and satisfied in life.

 

“If you want something you’ve never had you must be willing to do something you’ve never done.” – unknown or maybe Thomas Jefferson

My wife and I were visiting Asheville, NC this past weekend and walked by a local shop that had this quote in their window.  I did check the source and while it is listed as unknown, some believe it came from Thomas Jefferson.

I normally post original thoughts only, but this really struck a chord and I wanted to share. As leaders we are constantly trying to develop other leaders and the ability to grasp this concept and be motivated by it is something we must see in them.  Most “good” performers need to know something has been done before and then have to be motivated to achieve the same or better results; it requires good leadership to lead good performers and we need this foundation in our organizations. But how do we find and develop other leaders who will innovate and create tremendous growth for all stakeholders?

When striving for consistent exponential growth, we must find (or develop) team members that have the capability and desire to be entrepreneurial, which is what this quote is all about.

 

Age old lesson learned from a 1st grader’s teacher…..

This morning my oldest daughter (Eloise) asked me to sign her binder to confirm that she had done her homework, and her reading assignment last night.   She had done both so I signed it and she was all set.   As I was getting ready to head into the office, my wife told me that the day before Eloise had forgotten to get her binder signed and as a result only received 1 “pom pom” which is indicative of how well they do on any given day.  It was the first time Eloise had not received the highest mark (2 pom poms) and she was devastated.  After learning this, it made total sense in regards to how eager she was to have someone sign off this morning (her mom has always done this and she was not awake yet).

My biggest takeaway as it relates to adults and the professional world is that all organizations need awesome 1st grade teacher types (Like Mrs. Dunn in Eloise’s case) as part of their management/leadership teams. The result of setting clear expectations, inspecting results, and holding people accountable is that all are given the chance to reach their own optimal success level.  Everyone needs guidance and accountability.   While it may not be a daily focus like it is in 1st grade, the best business leaders know the importance of this same concept and it can surely be exemplified by doing a review of what the best-in-class organizations are doing.

Failure to practice the same concepts as grownups is simply a failure to lead.

We are the ones who…….

  1. Make time to take care of ourselves and our families
  2. Prospect and look for new opportunities, even when business/life is good
  3. Make corrections (and be the one to point them out) rather than excuses
  4. Look for issues when none are apparent
  5. Do not allow 8-5 to be a factor in achieving our goals
  6. Celebrate and recognize the success of others
  7. Write down our goals and consistently inspect performance against them
  8. Stomp out complacency; we look for it throughout the organization, especially after big wins
  9. Understand and accept leadership risk (relying on others for success)
  10. Strive for those who lead us to not have to worry about anything under our control

Early this morning while exercising in a small hotel gym, I reflected on how fast things are moving in life.   My kids are growing up too fast; I am getting older; MCCi is growing faster than ever and our team is phenomenal.  I was reminded that balance, growth, and leadership are tough, and that a certain level of stress (each person has their own tolerance) will be present when we are trying to do it all perfectly;  The reality is that perfection is impossible and that is the reason for reflection.  Consistent adjustments are what is key.

This week I am in three different states and will be part of some very important meetings.  We are prepared, and they will go as well as they can because our team is awesome.   But what am I most excited about this week?  The daddy daughter pool day with my 4 and 6 year old daughters on Saturday.   Just as much preparation is going into that:  Early morning grocery store run, hot dogs, popsicles, all-day pool day, bubbles, games, umbrellas……..