Champion Leadership Tip #41 - A Strong Bench Is Characteristic of Champion Teams & Vital for Business, Too!
I n athletics its called bench strength. It's managed via something called the depth chart. You've heard the terminology, first team, second team, third team, etc.
The "first team" are the players in the starting lineup, the second team are the "understudies" who give the first team a rest on certain strategic days during the season, or they come in to games at certain strategic times like for defense when a more conservative approach is desired. And, the third team is there to protect against serious injury and unexpected situations that may present themselves, (e.g., a player getting suspended for substance or steroid abuse or getting in trouble with the law, etc. where the second team player has to step up to the first team to fill that void.)
Well, the suprising resignation of former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd last week has caught the high-tech bohemoth with its depth chart a little light.
According to a recent Wall St. Journal article there is no clear succession plan in place and no clear successor to the CEO role at H-P. This is surprising for such a large, multi-national firm.
It's not a surprise to me in dealing with the small-to-medium sized firm's I work with. But, it is no less important, and maybe even more important, for the smaller companies and not-for-profit agencies with whom I work to have a succession plan in place.
Few do.
I call it the "Mack Truck" scenario. What happens to your organization should the owner/CEO walk down the street for lunch and get hit by a Mack Truck crossing the street?
Hmmm, something to think about! Yet, too many organizations fail to plan effectively for this possibility.
That's why I was excited to get a call from a former client this week who asked me to help train their middle-level managers on leadership and high-performance management skills last winter asking me to take their younger executives, who are the next level on their depth chart, through the same training. This is a firm obviously looking to the future and wants to be ready for it.
I also have another client, a not-for-profit organization, that to this point has not invested time, energy and resources on its Mack Truck scenario. But, I've been moving them in that direction since I started working with them because I believe the health and vitality of its current executive director is vital to the long-term viability and sustainability (not just the success) of the agency. And, at this stage the agency lacks the depth chart to have a viable succession plan.
What about you? Too many company's and not-for-profit organizations procrastinate on this 'fundamental' of long-term success (it's no coincidence that the word 'success' is the core of the word 'succession' as in 'succession planning.')
That's why I have included 'succession planning' and 'depth chart' creation as a strategy within my program on "The 3 Leadership Strategies Champion Organizations Master That Too Many Leaders Take for Granted."
If you haven't downloaded that free white paper report you should do that now at this link.
You also may want to register for my upcoming Free TeleSeminar on September 9th as well, on which I will be discussing the strategies outlined in that report.
The Tele-Seminar on September 9th is titled ""The 3 Leadership Strategies Champion Organizations Master That Too Many Leaders Take for Granted."Champion Organizations Master That Too Many Leaders Take for Granted."
Grab your seat today before the call fills up. I've been amazed at the number of registrations already and I haven't promoted much beyond last week's mention in my ezine that goes out to my list of 4,000 subscribers.
'til next time, make it a great week!
Champion Leadership Tip #40 - Leading Is Like Playing the Guitar
Every time I've picked up the guitar to play or practice this summer I've had to tune it. The varied humidity during the summer months makes the string tensions more varied than at other times during the year.
Each string has to be adjusted differently. Some are very far out of tune while others just need a slight tweak to get them back.
This morning with the guitar hanging from my neck I looked down at the tuner on the edge of the guitar's body and began to test and adjust each string.
After tuning the second string my focus pulled back slightly and I saw the entire six strings in full view and I recognized them as a unit, a team. And, I realized these were the 'team members' I needed to help me achieve my goal of playing the guitar properly in tune.
I then realized that the act of tuning the guitar is similar to leading a team of people.
Each one is different. Each is different in terms of its size, weight, texture, tension, its strength and the sound it makes. Each one also has strengths in certain situations and weaknesses in others.
Just like the people we lead in organizations.
Some days our people are in tune. Some days they need tuning. Some days they are ready to go and some days they need an attitude or motivation adjustment.
One day last week right in the middle of playing a song, one of the strings broke and I had to replace it with a new string. Sometimes that happens to our team members, too.
In leadership its important to remember that every person on our team is a unique human being with dreams, desires, aspirations, personal frailties and insecurities, but also great strengths.
As leaders we need to learn how to play those we lead. I don't mean in a manipulative, condescending way, but in a way that helps bring out the best in them.
We need to get to know them so that we can help them fine tune their approach, their attitudes, their skills and knowledge so they can help us, in conjuntion with their co-workers/teammates play beautiful music for our organizations.
If you would like to learn the techniques to lead like a champion so you can begin tuning your team into performing like a champion, join me on Thursday, September 9th for a FREE Tele-Seminar titled:
"The 3 Leadership Strategies Champion Organizations Master That Too Many Leaders Take for Granted"
Registration is free but you must reserve your spot in advance to make sure you get access to this call, click here to learn more and grab your spot now.
'til next time, make it a great week!
Champion Leadership Tip #39 - 3 Reasons Why Your Employees Are Not Taking Initiative In Their Roles!
Happy August!
One of the biggest issues my clients and prospects express greatest frustration about regarding the motivation of their employees, is that they feel their employees are not proactive enough, and that they do not take initiative in their roles.
I believe there are 3 reasons why this is happening.
Below are three areas to look at regarding how you and your managers are communicating to them (and with them) and to identify what type of messages you are sending, and/or they are receiving (sometimes communication from managers and leaders in organizations sends mixed signals, causing confusion for employees keeping them from being more motivated and proactive in their roles. In some organizations the mixed signals equate to a labyrinth):
1) They don't know you want them to (I know you think you've probably told them you want them to, but...leaders need to understand that "the meaning of any communication is the response you get." So, if the response you get is counter to your intended and desired response, you need to review your communication, your style and ask for clarification and understanding);
2) They are unmotivated and don't care enough (this is a performance management issue. I would recommend having more frequent performance discussions and asking what is getting in the way of an individual failing to take initiative and responsibility in their roles. The response you get, if you ask, may surprise you!) ;
3) There are de-motivators in the environment that are preventing them from doing so (e.g., they've tried in the past and have gotten negative feedback just for doing so from either a supervisor or peer who felt they were not authorized to do so, they've done so in the past, made a mistake and were given reprimanded for it.
A great resource for understanding and addressing the manifold scenarios that may be causing the performance problem is the book:
Some Employee Recognition Programs Kill Motivation, Here Are Some Ideas To Do It Right!
This blog post is a first. An added value to you with a guest blogger contribution. This comes from Derek Irvine, CMO of Globoforce and is republished from his post at Compensation Cafe on July 15th.
You know I've written before on this blog about recognizing and rewarding employees for contributions to their organizations.
I've also written about the importance of matching those rewards
to the personality, style and comfort zone of those employees to have those rewards provide positive reinforcement for on-going motivation.
I've also written about the importance of throwing out the "Golden Rule" when leading, and replace it with "Platinum."
Well, last week I learned (to no one's surprise) that not enough people are reading, and even fewer are applying, my employee motivation strategies. (see the Employee Motivation Equation)
So when I came across this post by Irvine, it might be a good way to reinforce my previous suggestions with the very funny and sad recognition strategies Irvine shared in his post, with some good suggestions for doing it right. ENJOY!
Compensation Cafe abounds with strong advice on employee recognition.
But sometimes, the best lessons are learned from the failures, from the atrocities, from the "I cannot BELIEVE he just did that" stories.
Marissa Keegan over at Fistful of Talent has written a couple of great posts along these lines - the deaf guy given an iPod, the boss giving himself the first ever Employee of the Month award.
My personal latest favorite - a beautiful, very expensive, and personally engraved espresso machine given to a Mormon (who eschew caffeine).
And then there's this story from a recent Dear Prudence column:
"At my company, when a colleague does something great - secures a new account, exceeds a goal, etc. - everyone is called into the lobby. The person's supervisor announces what she did and she has to dance in front of everyone. I've heard that public speaking is the most common fear, and public dancing has to be up there, especially when you're the only one dancing and everyone is watching you. I've been with the company for three months, and I have been forced to dance three times. How can I let the company know that public humiliation is not a valid form of employee recognition? Let me take an afternoon off, get me a Starbucks gift card, or just give me a handwritten note. This forced dancing is encouraging me to fly under the radar and aim for mediocrity."
Or how about this story from the news:
"A 'motivation day' organized by one of Italy's biggest real estate agencies ended in tears and scars when nine staff had to be treated in hospital after walking barefoot on a bed of hot coals."
While my emotions ranged from amused to horrified reading these stories, the lessons are real and they should be transparent. In order of the horror stories mentioned above:
- Don't be lazy and assume everyone wants the same reward. You'll end up insulting (and driving out of your organization) at least a few of the people you're trying to recognize.
- Don't set up a recognition program just to prove to employees how great you are and then use it as a weapon to get them to "perform better.
- Don't mortify employees so that they would rather under-perform than be recognized.
- Don't put your employees in the hospital!
So what do you do? First and foremost, ask your employees. Talk with them. Have an open conversation. Start with these questions:
- I appreciate the work you do very much. I'd like to honor you for that. What would be a meaningful form of recognition for you?
- What would you particularly not welcome as a sign of our appreciation? (Many people cringe at any form of public recognition, even being mentioned in a team meeting.)
Even more importantly, take them at their word. Never assume that somethingyou find rewarding would be received the same way by anyone else.
What are your stories of recognition gone wrong? What's your advice on how to recognize right?
As Globoforce’s CMO & Head of Strategic Consulting, Derek Irvine is an internationally minded management professional with over 20 years of experience helping global companies set a higher ambition for global strategic employee recognition, leading workshops, strategy meetings and industry sessions around the world. His articles on fostering and managing a culture of appreciation through strategic recognition have been published in Businessweek, Workspan and HR Management. Derek splits his time between Dublin, Montreal and Boston. Follow Derek on Twitter at @globoforce.
This may seem like common sense but, again, as I wrote in Monday's blog post, it ain't all that common!
Feel free to leave your comments on this topic below. What are your most frightening employee recognition stories and your best?
Champion Leadership Tip #38 - Champion Leaders Get the Facts Before Making Decisions
I know what you're thinking.
This is common sense.
But, like they say, "common sense isn't all that common."
Last week the news was overwhelmed by the story of U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack demanding the resignation of Shirley Sherrod, the head of the USDA Rural Development office in Georgia.
It seems now with all the facts released, the furor which caused the incident, came from an edited video of a presentation Sherrod made back in March.
Vilsack, it seems, made a decision without having all the facts from which to make it. And, violated Sherrod's basic constitutional rights of being innocent until proven guilty.
This is just one example of how people in leadership positions often jump the gun and make decisions without having all the facts. And, often times, even failing to consider the source of the information.
Back in the spring my wife sent me an e-mail from someone who just took over running a division where she works. This new leader unilaterally changed a policy based on his desire to save money across the entire division.
His decision was going to force public employees to pay for a licensing certification, for which their only use of it would be on the job, out of their own pocket and they would no longer be entitled to reimbursement.
The decision was sent via broadcast e-mail to every person who had responsibility for this area, and at no point leading up to the decision were department heads surveyed to discuss the decision's impact on overall operations.
After significant pushback by department heads and reasonable arguments being made, the decision was rescinded two weeks later.
David Brooks, NY Times Columnist speaking on NBC TV's "Meet the Press" on Sunday made a great comment about reporters and fact checking, "when I was a young reporter my boss in Chicago told us, 'if your mother tells you she loves you, you better get sources for confirmation.' "
Organizational leaders desirous of maintaining high morale and motivation of their employees, should invest time in doing the same.
Get the facts before jumping to conclusions and making decisions that can have adverse affects on your people and organization.
Common sense, I know, but a good reminder in the heat of battle.
A great resource for leaders looking to improve their leadership skills in making decisions and communicating more effectively is "The Leadership Series."
"The Leadership Series" offers 7 lessons in leadership with assessments and worksheets that equate to a mini-masters degree in leadership. It offers practical and specific strategies and tactics to get the most out of those you lead while creating a high-morale work environment.
You can learn more about it at www.YourLeadershipSeries.com" href="http://www.YourLeadershipSeries.com" target="_blank">www.YourLeadershipSeries.com
'tl next time, make it a great week!
p.s. - on Wednesday I will be featuring a guest blog post with a great article on how "not" to motivate your employees! Look for it!
Champion Leadership Tip #37: A Simple Strategy to Improve Employee Motivation
Just this past Friday I was inspired by a Twitter Tweet posted someone I'm following who always shares great leadership quotes.
Steve Keating (who can be followed on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/leadtoday) posted:
"Average leaders make their people perspire while great leaders make them inspired."
His post inspired me that afternoon to create what I am now calling the "Employee Motivation Equation - A Recipe for Team and Organization Success" .
Click the image above to go to a page that explains in more detail each of the components of the equation and why they are important.
Along with this equation I've also created a "Leadership & Employee Motivation Assessment" tool. It is a simple 21-statement checklist you can work through to see how many things you are doing well to motivate your employees and team members, and the areas you need to do better.
To get access to the assessment, complete this form:
If you were consistently apply the above Employee Motivation Equation, worked through the 21-Point Assessment and combined it with "The Secret 6-Step Formula for Creating a High-Performing Business Team that Gets Champion Level Results," you will succeed in creating a highly-motivated team that could achieve outstanding results.
Check out the Employee Motivation Equation and let me know what you think.
'til next time, make it a great week!
Steinbrenner's Legacy Reinforces the 3 Leadership Strategies of Champion Organizations
As a lifelong New York Mets fan I never thought I'd be writing a tribute to New York Yankees' owner George Steinbrenner, but my priorities and focus have changed since the 1970s & 80s when Steinbrenner's Yankees were my most hated nemesis.
In looking at how Steinbrenner transformed a run down franchise in 1973 valued at $10 million into a multi-billion dollar empire, the argument could be made that he did it by applying "The 3 Leadership Strategies Champion Organizations Master That Too Many Leaders Take for Granted."
Here's how Steinbrenner applied each of the "3 Strategies:"
Creating a Powerful Vision & Strategy
From the very beginning Steinbrenner focused the team, the media and the fans on one vision and that was to bring the Yankees back to prominence and to become World Series Champions again.
Steinbrenner purchased the team on January 3, 1973 and within four seasons the Yankees were back in the World Series. In his fifth and sixth seasons his Yankees defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers in back-to-back World Series.
His strategy of finding the right team members, paying them above market wages t attract them, and then demanding high-levels of performance brought the team high-levels of success.
Personnel & Performance Management Systems With Accountability
S teinbrenner's focus on managing personnel and their performance is legendary.
His reputation for pushing his personnel beyond their comfort zone is well-documented. Some would even say it was over the top and detrimental to achieving his desired results.
Yet, despite not being perfect and having a lull in the middle years of his rein, it got results. Because even when the team was not winning championships in the 80s the value of the franchise continued to climb.
Leadership & Teamwork Developed Throughout
Despite "The Bronx Zoo" era of the late 70s the Yankees under Steinbrenner always had great leaders. As a matter of fact it was Steinbrenner who resurrected the idea of a "team captain." In 1976 he named catcher Thurman Munson the first team captain since Lou Gehrig in 1941.
Subsequent team captains were Graig Nettles (1982-84), Willie Randolph (1986-89), Ron Guidry (1986-89), Don Mattingly (1991-95), and Derek Jeter (2003-present).
Now, despite the team captains and the consistent focus on personnel and performance management, the team wasn't always a cohesive unit off the field. But, there was never a waiver about the commitment to win when they crossed the white lines.
One of the quotes that resurfaced yesterday in the retrospectives on Steinbrenner's life and career was, "winning is the second most important thing next to breathing, its breathing first, winning second."
Many would think that a little over the top and his priorities a little out of sync. But, he was passionate about his teams performing at a high-level and providing his customers with a quality product on the field. That quote was meant to emphasize his commitment to the objective.
A key leadership trait many espouse is compassion. Compassion for those you lead. In public it seems Steinbrenner showed little compassion for those that worked for him. All we saw and heard about was his demanding and overbearing style. The softer, private side of Steinbrenner's personality was also being shared last night in the reports of his life and it seems he gave significantly to causes important to him and his family as well as those individuals closest to him in the game he loved.
If there is one thing we, as organizational leaders can take from Steinbrenner's legacy, I would offer his passion for what he did, his passion for excellence and offering customers a high-quality product that would return high-value for all investing in that product.
Three years ago I wrote a white paper report detailing how these three strategies create champion organizations titled, "The 3 Leadership Strategies Champion Organizations Master That Too Many Leaders Take for Granted."
This month I am in the process of updating it and making it even more relevant for organizational leaders to apply.
It is going to include an exercise for strategic evaluation, and access to additional resources to manage performance and develop leadership and teamwork in any organization.
If you'd like to order this report while I'm still offering it as a free download, which I guarantee will be available before the end of this month click here to get on the list to receive it as soon as it is released.
As those of you know from reading my recent White Paper "The Secret 6-Step Formula for Creating a High-Performing Business Team That Gets Champion Level Results" recruiting and hiring "right" is just one of six components of creating that championship team.
The Miami Heat's signing of Lebron James and his two friends Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh in the free agent shenanigans of the National Basketball Association will create a nice case study on building a championship team, don't you think?
The Miami Heat believe they have put the foundation in place to create a long-term culture of winning championships.
James, along with the Heat's other free agent signing Chris Bosh, will now team with the Heat's primary ('til now) star player Dwayne Wade to form 3/5 of a basketball team with a vision of winning a championship.
Now we'll have to see if their talent acquisition strategy can mesh with an implementation strategy to allow the franchise to achieve its Vision.
Many sports franchises have tried to "buy" superstar talent only to see buckets of money go down the drain when expectations failed to meet reality on the field of play. This happens often in baseball, hockey and football where it takes significantly more components to be successful than the five to eight key players on a basketball team.
LeBron, Wade and Bosh are saying and doing the right things today.
They are each probably going to earn less money than they could have in other scenarios. They are also saying there will be no egos or competition between them for the spotlight.
There are three components of creating a championship team that they each should be very much aware, as I'm sure their bosses Miami Heat president Pat Riley and coach Erik Spoelstra are.
Talent, skill and chemistry.
There is no doubt the skills are there.
Talent is obviously there in a physical sense. But there is also a component of emotional and intellectual talent that is innate to all three that we will see play itself out as the pressure of the season(s) heats up.
How they handle those pressures will impact the chemistry between the three of them and between the three of them with the rest of the team.
How leaders apply their extensive leadership skills to the other five will determine the level of success of any team or organization with a Vision & Strategy to function at a championship level.
In my experience in both athletics and business it is always the "chemistry" part of adding team members (or employees) to the mix that is left out of the evaluation process. Let's hope that hasn't been the case with the Miami Heat situation.
Either Pat Riley, who has long been recognized as one of the great coaches and leaders in basketball history and has even been rumored to be moving out of the executive suite to return to coaching, or Spoelstra will be responsible, along with their new triumvirate of talent, for leading themselves and the rest of their teammates in the coming NBA seasons in a way that fulfills their awesome Vision & Strategy.
Good luck, we'll all be watching.
Champion Leadership Tip #33 - Two Resources to Help Leaders Develop the Habit of Humility
Those of you who have followed these Champion Leadership Tips over the past 33 weeks know I believe that one of the 5 Traits of a Champion Leader is "humility." (see Champion Leaderships Tip #11).
When I coach business leaders this is one of the most challenging transformations I have to help them make, as it is initiailly mis-understood. They often see it as being soft. But as I argue in Tip #11 it is actually a sign of strength.
Because I believe it is so important for leaders to develop and nurture the habit of humility I thought I would take this week's post to offer two resources to help.
The resources are two excellent books I've recently read that are outstanding at reinforcing the fact that leaders often are the cause of their team members failing to meet performance, behavior and attitude expectations.
The two books are:
"What Got You Here, Won't Get You There" by Marshall Goldsmith - this book provides case studies of Goldsmith's work with his high-level CEO clients as well as personal anecdotes of how he has applied the strategies to improve his own business and family relationships. In the book Goldsmith offers specific communication exercises that leaders can practice to improve the relationships with those they work with to transform the results they get through other people.
"Leadership & Self-Deception" by The Arbinger Institute -I was very impressed with this book. It offers tremendous insight into how our own internal thought process and communication style often times creates a belief system that causes us to see others through a filter. It is this filter which gets in the way of our perception of others to create a self-fulfilling prophecy of how we expect them to be.
The premise of the book is that leaders often times decieve themselves because of this filtered perception and communicate with people as if they are objects and not "people." In failing to see people as "people" with thoughts, feelings, and desires much like ourselves we dehmanize them, and then communicate at them in a way that causes them to behave in a way that supports our perception of them. This creates a downward and recurring spiral of behavior that reinforces our belief and destroys a relationship and a potentially high quality contributor to our life and business.
Read and apply the strategies in both books and you will significantly improve the results and satisfaction you get from both your personal and professional relationships.
These two books are great resources for leaders who are ready to embrace humility and look inside themselves so they can elevate their approach to truly become a Champion Leader.
'Til next time, make it a great week!
Champion Leadership Tip #32 - The 3 Options Leaders Know They Always Have
Have you ever had someone come to you stressed and frustrated because they felt they had no options, no choices in a situation. They felt backed into a corner with no way out?
Great leaders are able to see through this and can guide their people through the darkest situations.
They do this because they know they are always options.
They also do this because they understand the "Law of Requisite Variety" -which states, "in any situation the entity with the most options at its disposal will always be the most successful." You can learn more about the "Law of Requisite Variety" here.
Sometimes I feel this way when it comes to election time. So many disenchanted voters stay home from the polls because they are unhappy or uninspired with the state of politics. So, instead of making their choice from among those on the ballot, they vote by staying home.
But, even in those less than ideal electoral scenarios we always have a choice and not making a choice on election day, for what many may see as a choice on the lesser of two or three evils, does not empower us to be part of the process and contribute to the greater good.
This is not a civics lesson in voting philosophy but a leadership lesson.
Because great leaders know they are always options, three options to be exact and they consistently apply and teach their team members about these three options.
The 3 Options are:
1) Choose to Influence
2) Choose to Accept
3) Choose to Remove
Let's take a brief look at each:
1) Choose to Influence
This is where leaders and teams decide to step up and take control over the things that are within their control. They evaluate the situation and make decisions to influence the areas over which they can. They take action in those areas and make adjustments and further decisions along the way to improve the situation.
2) Choose to Accept
This is where leaders and teams decide, of their own free will, that it is a battle not worth fighting. They consciously decide that the challenge is not a priority and energy would be better spent influencing other areas. With this choice it must be understand that "choosing to accept" is truly "accepting" the situation and "letting go" of any stress, ill will, desire for it to be different. There is no harboring of resentment against other people whom there may be a feeling of causing the situation.
It is true acceptance.
3) Choose to Remove
This is where a decision is made to move away from the situation. This may mean physically leaving the area, asking for a transfer to a new department or division, selling a home and moving to a new area, etc. This may be a leader has to remove an individual from the team because they are no longer a good fit for the team.
There can also be "mini-removals" that can be less draconian so that one can cope with a negative situation, such as limiting time spent with people that send negative energy or a just not a good fit with one's own personality.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
In leadership situations when the performance of others on a team impacts the results of the team, leaders have only two choices. Leaders can not choose to accept poor performance and behaviors detrimental to the team or the organization for which they have responsibility. But, they still always have two choices and it is the best leaders who consistently, and promptly work through those two choices to move their team forward.
What about you? How effectively do you manage the three options always at your disposal in your professional and personal life?
Those that do are happier and healthier as they do not live with nearly as much stress as those that fail to acknowledge the choices that are right in front of them.
'Til next time, make it a great week!