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 #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.
Today is the opening matches for the 2010 World Cup Football (Soccer to us Americans). And, the month long tournament gives us another opportunity to study the traits that create champions in athletics and to look at how we can translate that to our teams in business.
Although I've never been much of a fan until recent years, the 2006 World Cup Tournament did catch my attention. As a matter of fact I believe the Finals Match between Italy and France may have been the first complete soccer match I've ever watched on TV.
That event stands out for the very selfish play by France's star player Zinedane Zidane, who scored France's only goal in the game but subsequently showed a complete lack of self-leadership by head-butting an opponent during an altercation forcing his removal from the final minutes of the game, the overtime and penalty shot phase the determined the Champion.
The Champion Leadership lesson from that World Cup came down to that incident and showed a lack of emotional intelligence and self-leadership. In business emotions play a regular part of our individual and team success as I've seen many leaders show a complete disregard for managing their emotions, to the detriment of their business relationships.
But, today the World Cup starts fresh. All 32-teams will be applying my "3 Strategies of Champion Organizations" as they get started. The team that will come out on top will be the team that most effectively implements and executes those three stratgies most consistently.
The "3 Strategies" are:
- A Compelling Vision & Strategy
- Performance Management Accountability Systems
- Leadership & Teamwork Developed Throughout
To learn what to look for regarding the "3 Strategies of Champion Organizations" as we together watch the World Cup Football Championship unfold over the next few weeks, download the free White Paper here .
Champion Leadership Tip #28 - Build Trust to Improve Teamwork, Pt. 4
The fourth and final piece in this series to help build trust to improve teamwork is going to focus on creating a culture of accountability.
The reason why teamwork in athletics works is because athletics at every level offers a culture of accountability.
Every athlete is consistently evaluated on their production and performance against the specific performance expectated of them.
The reason why a culture of accountability builds trust is that all team members know that each is charged with specific performance expectations and will have to answer for their individual production.
This approach works to create equilibrium throughout an organization because without it performance is uncertain and thus the equilibrium goes out of balance as it is difficult to know whom to trust to follow through and get the job done.
At last Friday's "How To Create and Lead a Championship Team" workshop we talked a lot about accountability and how for a lot of default leaders (leaders who have to lead a team because of the job they have but are not experienced leaders and whom did not aspire to lead others, per se), holding others accountable is challenging.
To hold others accountable a leader must have high levels of self-esteems and self-confidence, and be a strong communicator.
A culture of accountability begins with a leader setting specific performance expectations for each individual team member and providing feedback, both positive and constructive.
That's it 'til next time...
P.S. - To review the first two parts of the "Building Trust to Improve Teamwork" series, check out these two links:
Part 1 - "Build Trust to Improve Teamwork"
Part 2 - "Build Trust to Improve Teamwork"
Part 3 - "Build Trust to Improve Teamwork"
Business Leaders, Stop Searching for New Ideas!
Just got off the phone with a recent participant in one of my workshops who expressed interest in attending a follow up program but couldn't due to a schedule conflict.
When I asked if he would prefer to have me meet he and his business partner privately he said, "ya know, I've found we get better ideas when we participate in group sessions like the last workshop we attended. If we just do something with us and another individual, we don't seem to get that much out of the session."
That was one objection I honestly hadn't heard before to which I wasn't prepared to respond. I did my colleague a disservice. Lesson learned, I'll be ready the next time I hear it.
But, that brought up another key point for me to address to all business leaders.
It is vital that business leaders stop looking for the next great idea. Instead they should immerse themselves in evaluating all the stuff they know but aren't implementing (this is called procrastination!).
Now, I know there is great value in getting new best practice ideas and getting reminded of other ideas in group workshops, as I did earlier this week.
But, I also know there were some fundamentals I wasn't fully applying. And I also know there are many fundamentals you are not applying to your business.
I always ask my clients and workshop attendees this question, "What are you not doing that you should be doing?"
There has never been anyone who does not have an answer to that question, and usually there is more than one answer.
Here are some that last week's workshop attendees shared in their pre-work, some may look familiar:
Group 1
- increasing sales in a down market
- better financial forecasting
- centralized hiring
- expanding practice areas
- more marketing
- spend more time motivating my staff
- efficiency
- getting my name out there
- marketing as a team effort
Group 2
- acquiring testimonials
- more networking
- identifying various business sectors we can best serve and specific strategies to market to them
- enforcing break time
- sending out weekly updates to my branches
- planning and strategizing more
Do you recognize a difference between Group 1 & Group 2?
It may be difficult for you to see a difference. Group 1 is a list of ambiguous and amorphous platitudes that make it difficult to move forward. No wonder people are stuck. Group 2 I can work with better as they are more specific and direct thoughts towards real actions or activities.
So, forget about new ideas, dust off the old ones sitting on your shelf that you know work, if you would just implement. Get specific and get going!
Something to think about? What do you think?
p.s. - next week I'll share a diagram showing how implementation is the differentiating factor between losing organizations and winners, and how it transforms winners into champions.
A Client's Employee "Performance Problems," NOT! What About You?
I recently completed a six-month "Champion Organization" development program with a growing non-profit agency that serves an international community.
Among the things we insitituted was a comprehensive team and individual performance management and feedback system. I had received tremendous positive feedback from the agency's executive director and from those with whom I had worked on the senior leadership team.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the agency's office early one night last week to prepare for a presentation to its Board of Directors, and saw this book sitting on the executive director's desk:
I was almost afraid to ask my client, but I had to know so I said, "hey, what's this about?"
He laughed and said, "oh, it's something I found on my bookshelf from year's ago and was thinking this afternoon about how far we've come."
I said, "Phew, I was worried that we were having a relapse."
We spent a lot of time instituting a performance feedback process that he and his direct reports would be applying to engage employees and each other.
The system I've installed in at least a half-dozen organizations in recent years encourages and recommends consistent performance discussions that should alleviate 98% of "performance problems," and few if any should ever get to the point of needing a book like this.
As a matter of fact, if an organization (business or non-profit) has its performance management system focused on "performance problems" and "progressive discipline" guess what type of employee relationships they'll be fostering?
Yes, that organization will probably see way more than its fair share of employee discipline problems.
It's much better to create and implement a consistent process performance feedback model that includes an open two-way dialogue. Few organizations know how to do it properly and default to the one-time a year performance evaluation process at salary adjustment or hiring anniversary time. This often causes resentments, fear, uncertainty and doubt throughout the organization.
It rarely improves employee performance which is supposed to be the purpose of the evaluation isn't it?
What do you think?
What's your performance management, review, evaluation system like?
Is it improving the actual performance of your team members?
Note: sometimes its not necessarily the forms and process that gets in the way but the individuals delivering the performance management process, like managers, supervisors, organizational leaders who have built through their communication style, personality, ego, etc. that create a low trust environment negatively impacting the process.
To learn more about "The 7 Deadly Sins of Organizational Leadership Communication" that may be getting in the way, download my latest Free White Paper report here!
A Leadership Lesson From the Movie "The Blind Side"
If you haven't seen the movie "The Blind Side" yet, you should go see it while it is still in theatres.
The story is about a Memphis, Tennessee family, Sean and Leigh Anne Touhy, who offer a lost, homeless teenager, Michael Oher, the opportunity to come into their home and become part of their family.
Through Ms. Touhy's nurturing Michael becomes a standout high school football player, eventually earning a scholarship to the University of Mississippi and being selected as the National Football League's Baltimore Ravens' first round draft selection in the spring of 2009.
It's a touching and powerful real life story with one particular lesson all business leaders and coaches could learn from.
During Oher's early days on the gridiron his football coach was frustrated with his lack of comprehension of how to fulfill the offensive tackle role he had been assigned. The coach, applying his traditional coaching style of yelling louder and more forcefully with each frustrating play at practice, gets no results.
Ms. Touhy, watching her 'adopted' son from the practice sidelines, walks on to the field and addresses Oher, reminding him of his strong will and personal attribute of "protective instincts." In taking the "Student Career Aptitude Test" for admission to a private Christian school Oher scored in the 98th percentile in "Protective Instincts."
Knowing this was his personal strength she used herself as a metaphor for the quarterback, and her youngest son as the tailback, telling him to protect his teammates in those positions as if he were protecting his new family. In the movie Michael immediately "gets it" and transforms into a force on the team's offensive line, much to the amazement of his coach, standing bewildered on the sidelines.
Two leadership lessons in that story:
1) Leaders have to know what makes their people tick. They need to take the time to learn what motivates them and what their true strengths and interests are.
2) Leaders must then take that information and apply it to the role in which they assign to their team members so everyone is working in a role that reinforces their strengths.
To apply this in the most ridiculous way, above the high school level, a baseball team would not have its star starting pitcher play the position of catcher or shortstop on days when he is not pitching. Nor would a football team put its quarterback on the defensive line.
Yet, few businesses really assess the strengths of their employees and learn what they like to do and feel good doing before they assign a job to them. I understand that in business, unlike sports, it may not be possible to have someone fill only the role they are the perfect fit for, but it is possible to identify those strengths and have their role include more of that work than not. It benefits both the individual and the organization.
For this purpose I've recently become affiliated with an organization that does leadership and personality assessments to identify individual strengths and weaknesses, Harrison Assessments. To learn more about my new affiliation and how it may benefit click this link.