Carving A Leadership Path

28 May Carving A Leadership Path

 “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.”

-Bill Gates

 

The lifeblood of your company flows through your people, your leadership, and the culture they collaboratively build.

 

And the heartbeat is indisputable – that second factor, the quality of your leaders.

 

The elite practitioners source and nurture uncommon talent – their mediocre counterparts recruit something less …and then endure the consequences.

 

It can be argued that the single greatest predictor of workplace satisfaction ties back to whether you have a core of exceptional leaders.  The data supports the supposition.

 

Consider:

 

• The Gallup Group estimates that lack of leadership costs American companies up to $550 billion annually
• The research firm Hogan Assessments indicates that typical employees consider their boss “the worst part of their job” – and in turn, the leading cause of disengagement.
• That same group reports that a stunning 65% of workers would rather have a new supervisor than a pay raise
• The correlation between solid leadership and profitability is fairly staggering – one expert posits that the impact per associate exceeds 10%

 

You get the picture.

 

Cultivating leaders is not a part-time project – or an afterthought after you’ve hit your revenue goals or the latest earning’s projection.

 

At least it shouldn’t be.

 

Which is why I share this Summary Report from a larger Compass Alliance White Paper on the subject – this directed specifically to companies that purport to place an emphasis on the importance of leadership, but without a strategic plan to realize that goal.

 

Three key insights I ask you to consider:

• Great leaders do not just “happen” – there is no serendipity involved in building them.
• Assuming that the day-to-day of running a business is a substitute for leadership development will come back to not just bite you – but to devour you.
• Even the smallest company can take definitive strides in building a world-class leadership team – regardless of current revenue limitations.

 

 

Chances are good that your company recognizes the importance of leaders – but circumstances compromise.

 

Dollars are tight. Deadlines are narrow. You’re far more concerned with surviving…. a Leadership Development initiative is somewhere in the distant future.

 

That makes sense… doesn’t it?

 

No.

 

It doesn’t.

 

It’s akin to saying,  “We will build a Go-To-Market strategy after we’ve established a dominant share with our new product.”

 

Or…

 

“We will hire a Human Resources expert after our first series of internal lawsuits. “

 

It just doesn’t work that way.

 

Your need for leaders is most acute now… today.

 

Before you invest one more dime in that new company brochure – or the state-of -the-art website – or the technology that will send you into the stratosphere….

 

Stop and consider the return on each of those investments… carefully.

 

Here are a few hard truths you might want to factor:

 

• Your strategy – regardless of the industry or the brand – is nothing more than a framework for decision making. Decision making around the resources you will invest to achieve competitive advantage.
• The primary decision makers should be your leaders.
• Great leaders optimize your resources – poor leaders simply spend your resources.

 

The driver of company strategy is your leadership team – and no product, no matter how unique, will prosper if there aren’t extremely qualified individuals at the helm.

 

                                                                           The Elephant In The Room

 

Before we go any further let’s call out what is, for many companies, the greatest single blessing… and greatest potential curse when it comes to advancing the cause of leadership development.

 

I call it The Superman Complex.

 

For smaller companies there is almost always an Alpha – a founder or someone of that ilk that has carried the organization from inception to some level of present day success.

 

They’ve made tough decisions – they’ve borne much of the risk – and they’ve dared greatly.

 

And now this company stands at the precipice of something more.

 

Letting go of every decision – allowing others to grow and expand their skill sets – is not easy.

 

To that person we always offer this simple bit of advice.

 

Heroism is not scalable.

 

Your company will only soar when you demonstrate the courage to allow it.  Every decision you make that could have been delegated adds to your burden.

 

Adds to your work stress. Adds to your frustration.

 

You stand at a crossroads.

 

Superman exists only in fantasy. Your company must compete in the real world.

 

Give up the cape.

 

 

                                           So How Do We Make Sure We Are Building Great Leaders?

 

The method we suggest to small to mid-size clients acknowledges the challenges associated with managing the bottom line while simultaneously pushing the focus on transformational leadership to the center of the table, rather than relegating it to the dark periphery.

 

Even if today’s budget doesn’t allow for a fully formed Leadership Development initiative a small bit of creativity can make a huge impact on your company – and quickly replace the “someday our ship will come in” approach.

 

Here are three critical ingredients in doing just that:

1. Establishing the WHY around the importance of quality leadership to the business
2. Reconfirming the HOW of immediately elevating our leadership persona
3. Consensus around the WHAT of what extraordinary leadership must look like

 

Allow me to elaborate:

 

                                                                        Establishing the WHY

 

Companies seldom embrace change unless there is a sense of urgency that demands it. Proclaiming the importance of leadership – even with a learning organization – will likely fall on deaf ears unless there is a compelling call to action.

 

Contextually, the sponsor (or sponsors) must effectively consider:

• The costs of poor strategy decisions to the business
• The role of leaders in the strategic equation
• The current state of leadership – and how “we” got here
• The ideal future state of leadership – and what it could mean to the future
• The consequences of not taking action
• The current state of today’s culture (employee engagement surveys, attrition rates, overall job satisfaction, etc.) and what “could be” if we make changes

 

OK, that sounds good. How do we do that? Here are several highly effective first steps:

• Gather the key stakeholders (and that might be no more than 2 or 3 people) – discuss what elite leadership actually should look like at this company – the six dimensions above can form your agenda
  • Now, factor the insights with your strategy and company mission – is there alignment?
  • What are we not accounting for?
  • What is the statement we need to make to the company overall?
• Agree on how we will affect true Change Leadership – and what will the trade offs need to be?
• Make the decision to ACT

 

 

                                                                        Reconfirming the How

 

Contextually – we have agreement on the importance – we have a sense of urgency – we now carry the key stakeholder discussions to the functional level.

 

How do we do we do that? Here’s a framework:

 

• Start building a “leadership” brand. Communicate to the company at large the commitment to this initiative – and why leadership excellence benefits not just today but tomorrow.
• Move immediately to push “leadership” into the cadence of executive and/or regular staff meetings– which means you make the decision to NOT just talk about operational issues – or the swarm of tactical problems that demand attention.
• Assign a senior sponsor that owns leadership development in your company (and no, that doesn’t have to be Chief Learning Officer or a Director of Leadership Development – you don’t have the funds for that. But there still needs to be an internal advocate).
• Enlist supporters that make the cause real (if, for example, you have a truly great leader over in Commercial, move quickly to put their work in front of the company)

 

 

                                                                        Consensus Around The What

 

Contextually, we have agreement on “The Big Idea”. We have alignment on the “Make Me Care”.  Our challenge now advances to:

 

What Happens After.

 

Here are several functional steps that can make the subject of Transformational Leadership very real in your company.  And the first step below (for most companies) is arguably the most important.

 

• Eliminate the extraneous. Toss the long-winded descriptors (insert HR Documents, Competency Models, and various business articles) that complicate. In every leadership role there are three basic Capabilities that must be focused on.    Every leader in your company should be able to:
  • Attract and Recruit exceptional talent into your company. No inflow – no sustainability.
  • Develop and Retain that talent. Clear standards – coaching – accountability.
  • Build the individual players into a whole that exceeds the sum of its parts. Strategy – synergy – teambuilding – culture.
• Focus on these 3 Capabilities – ensure mutual agreement. This simple framework should allow you to then advance to Values and Competencies.
  • For most companies – the competencies are likely to include some variation on the following. Each of these offer fruitful sources of conversation – especially for smaller organizations just beginning to build a strong leadership presence.
    • Relationship building
    • Developing and coaching people
    • Change leadership
    • Inspiring and influencing employees
    • Critical thinking
    • Strategic decision making
    • Communication
    • Ensuring accountability

 

• Advance from conceptual discussions to functional day-to-day dialogue:
  • What are Best Practice examples?
  • What are the obstacles that are compromising us?
  • What resources can we avail ourselves of…today?
  • What are the short term wins we are generating?
  • How do we sustain…and accelerate our progress?
  • How do we advance to a more systemic approach to our Leadership Development efforts?

 

The three broad steps outlined here are starting points only.  But carefully facilitated they can make a significant difference.

 

The emphatic message we offer to smaller companies is this….

 

A leadership culture – whether effective or ineffective – is already gaining a foothold in your organization. The decision to put your imprint on that transformation is vitally important.

 

Small changes early on can render remarkable results.

 

Heroism is seldom scalable.

 

Leadership is.

 

“Survival of the fittest is not the same as survival of the best. Leaving leadership development up to chance is foolish.”

– Morgan McCall

 

 

 

 

If you would like to learn more feel free to contact me at tim.cole@thecompassalliance.com