Category: People

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.

At every level of an organization, the leaders are easy to identify. Just look for those who have reputations like Stefanie…….

Over the past few weeks I have been trying to get an important answer from a fairly well known company regarding providing service to my home. Not able to get a human, I instant messaged with their chatbot, and all the communication was positive in regards to “no worries, we will be able to service you and it should be at no additional cost”…. then they would set up a ticket and I would get a person who would call and give me different answers that would cause the creation of another ticket. This was going on for two weeks with no reliable answers.

Then Stefanie entered my life…..A friend of mine had the same issue and referred me to her. I reached out thinking she was a customer service rep. She stuck with me and resolved the issue. I never had to follow up with her; she gave me daily updates and coordinated the effort, which involved others at her company. I would not call this an earth shattering story, however I looked her up on LinkedIn afterwards and discovered she is a high level executive in their Government Affairs division. Her position level and role have 0% alignment with what I was asking for. I called her back and asked “Why did you help me?”. She said that she had gained that reputation and this sort of thing happens often. I then asked someone else about her and the response was “She is an Absolute Rockstart”.

Stefanie instantly elevated to a leader in my book. The experience was memorable to me because leadership is a choice, and it is typically in low supply. A big key to success is identifying the small supply of leadership and pulling it all together. That is what can make any organization, team, and effort the best time of your life, while also being a breeding ground for other leaders.

Thank you Stefanie! If you see this post – yes, I am talking about you!

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.

 

“The success of a leader depends on their ability to form the right habits in themselves, their people, and their organization”

The strategic part of leadership is in developing, cultivating and filtering ideas, with the ultimate goal of firming up the strategy/focus for their team. Arguably, the harder and more time consuming part of leadership is Execution. Strategy is the plan and Execution is the action. The easiest way to think about what it takes to execute is to compare it to what it takes to create new habits:

  1. We have to get ourselves right first and put in place all the self controls and inspection points to ensure new habits will be formed; It starts with us as the leader
  2. The value of forming a new habit has to be sold, and the leader is the salesperson until the habit is formed and becomes part of the culture. The leader has to coninuously evangelize the attractiveness of the new habit, as well as the resulting satisfaction; remember that the team does not fully grasp or buy-in to your vision until they have experienced it
  3. It takes time. All studies have shown that consistency over a long period of time is what it takes to form new habits. They are never formed by just laying out the strategy and expecting that all have heard it and that they will take all the actions on their own to form new habits. NOT GONNA HAPPEN….The execution must be planned so that it is delivered in chunks and with multiple iterations and consistent inspection points
  4. It is our job to make it easy

 

Trust and likability without accountability is the ultimate sneaky disaster…..

It is true that trust is the primary requirement to leading effectively, but the immediate runner up is accountability. Without both, you will get knocked off the leadership podium.

To provide a narrative……

A leader starts with their new team (new team or just new to them) and their first course of action is to build genuine relationships/trust through their actions. This goes on for a while and all is seemingly great. The team loves their leader and they trust them. The leader is also happy with how things are going and they trust their team, and now we have a tipping point because it is at this point that it is easy to start making dangerous assumptions (like that all understand their role, priorities, cadence for getting things done, what success looks like, the strategy, how and when to report, the why behind initiatives, etc.). The right move is to insert the accountability pieces as early into the mix as possible, preferably right when relationships/trust are taking hold. If the accountability step is missed, the trust that has been established can result in it taking quite a while before the reasons for inefficiency and lack of execution are apparent, thus making it the “ultimate sneaky disaster”.

To help avoid/correct this situation:

  1. Live out the tried and true “Inspect what you expect” concept; people need this and they know it – you even need it from those you report to.
  2. Understand that the trust you worked to build will ultimately be lost if the team is not successful. Some refrain from inserting all the needed accountability measures due to the fear of harming likeability/trust. However, the team looks to their leader to lead them to success and they expect to be held accountable. They are on/off the team because of their belief in their leader, so know that you have earned the right to do what is needed to ensure success for all.

It takes strong leadership to balance it all, but that is what is required. I have ended up thanking my mentors and leaders over the years for how they held me accountable. Without the accountability factor, I am certain neither of us would have experienced the same level of success.

A team’s trust in their leader is a pre-requisite to the success of the team. Do you have it?

Every team member should believe in the vision of their leader. Buy-in comes from trust, which must be earned. Here are some core questions to ask yourself in regards to whether or not you have earned your team’s trust:

  1. Everything starts with a great plan: Have you done a good job laying out the plan by explaining how it was formulated, and being specific in regards to contributions needed from each team member? Have you gotten to the point where they understand and believe in their ability to contribute/impact outcomes?; Do they own and believe in their portions of the plan?
  2. How would they rank your competency level? Does your team have full belief in your understanding of the business, goals you set, and your ability to help them cross the hurdles along the way? It starts with explaining “the why” behind goals, changes, and plans. Then your ability to get in the trenches when needed and help with a win, course correction, etc., is what cements the belief in your competence and the team’s ability to succeed under your leadership.
  3. Do they value/respect your work ethic? The quality and tempo of the work you do sets the example for your team. Go-getters trust and are motivated by Go-getter leaders.
  4. How would they rank your level of character and integrity? If you have made it to a leadership position, you likely have a high-level of character and integrity, but does your team know it? Have you spent the required time to build and maintain your relationships? Time and experience with each person is the starting point, and then consistently doing what is right is what must follow. Also notable is that doing what is right is not always what is easy/popular, but it is what creates long-lasting respect and belief in your character and integrity.

Most people desire to be successful and they seek a leader they can count on for support and guidance. In order to earn their trust, they must believe that being on your team gives them the best chance for success.

Reflect often (and trust your gut) on what is needed to build and maintain trust. At any given time, there is someone on the team that is not a full believer; therefore, building and maintaining trust must be a continuous effort by all leaders.

 

 

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.