Leadership Quote: It Is Only As We Develop Others…

Leadership Quote: It Is Only As We Develop Others…

Opt 6 Mar 30 2014This month’s leadership quote:

“It is only as we develop others that we permanently succeed.”

-Harvey S. Firestone

As leaders, we truly have only one job: to develop others. The success of our organizations rests entirely in the hands of the people who build our products and deliver the service to our customers. So, we have two choices, we build the products and deliver the service ourselves or… we develop the leaders who work for us, and they, in turn, develop their teams.  

When we choose the latter, we permanently succeed because we have built a sustainable enterprise.

Elisa K. Spain

Did I Delegate Or Did I Abdicate?

Did I Delegate Or Did I Abdicate?

Opt 1 Mar 23

 

Here’s a simple test to know if you have delegated or abdicated.

At what point in the process will I know if my expectations were met?

Hmm… guess that means if my intention is to delegate, I must take the following 5 actions:

  1. Clearly outline my expectations
  2. Check-in to see if my expectations were understood
  3. Agree how both progress and outcome will be monitored and measured
  4. Agree when and how progress will be reported
  5. Agree when and how progress will evaluated and adjustments made

You might be asking yourself at this point, “seems a lot of process; do I have to do this every time I ask someone to do something for me?”

This decision of course, is yours to make.

Meanwhile I will share a personal story that happened years ago and reminded me of the value of following these five steps, and following the DIME Method, whenever I assign work to someone else. 

I emailed a document to my virtual assistant, asking simply, “please clean up this document and send it to FedEx to make into a poster.”  What I had in my head was a black and white, 24×36 printed document that I could roll up and take with me to a meeting and then throw away at the end of the day. The cost of this type of document is about $5.

When I arrived at FedEx, my bill was $100 and what they had ready for me was a full color, 24×36 printed document, mounted on a board and laminated.

Which do you want? And, have you made that clear?

 

Elisa K. Spain

 

What If Instead, We Gave Feedback?

What If Instead, We Gave Feedback?

Opt 3 2014-03-16In my last post, I compared business to dating. Continuing that theme… Another similarity is “absent information, we make stuff up.” In the dating world, if he doesn’t call, we assume all kinds of things. Similarly with a prospect, an employee, a customer, a new connection.

And, most of the time when we don’t like how we perceive something went, we simply walk away. What if instead, we offered feedback?

Several months ago, I met a talented young entrepreneur through a mutual friend. Our mutual friend asked me to consider introducing her to some of my contacts. I am always very careful about making introductions, as I feel a responsibility to both parties. Long story short, I introduced her to a couple of friends and never heard anything more from any of the parties. I like to complete the circle, so I reached out and learned from my new contact that she had met with each of my friends and they were good meetings.

Shortly thereafter, my new contact asked for a second meeting and around that same time, I happened to speak with both of my friends. My friends had a story, similar to each other, but different from what I heard from my contact. Each of my friends came away feeling that my new contact had promised to send them something and never heard from her again.

New friend, only had a first date, while there was a spark, (see last week’s blog), my gut said, “no second date”‘. She didn’t treat my relationships with the same care as I do.

Instead, I did go on the second date, prodded by a friend who encouraged me to. I decided I had a responsibility to give my new friend feedback.

What ensued was a real conversation about the emotional wake we sometimes leave; the importance of focusing on what is important and the importance of perceptions. It was a defining moment for both of us. For me, being open to hearing feedback that was different from my perception; for her taking a pause and focusing on what matters.

She and I have become friends, not in spite of our conversation, but because of it. She has since told me that she has completely changed her approach to building her business, because of our conversation.

The next time something doesn’t go the way you want it to, with someone with whom you see potential, perhaps a new member of your team, someone you recently promoted, or someone you might do business with, would you consider giving feedback, instead of walking away?

Elisa K. Spain

 

When Was The Last Time You Went On A Date?

When Was The Last Time You Went On A Date?

Let´s get together

 

You are probably wondering why I am asking this question and what dating possibly has to do with a leadership blog…

Actually, this topic comes up frequently in my coaching sessions. Business it seems, is a lot like dating…

So, here are some dating and business best practices I’ve learned along the way:

  • Be authentic.
  • Be respectful.
  • Be clear on what you are looking for in a partner, a customer, an employee or a vendor.
  • Be clear what it is you bring to the table and be realistic. That high powered CFO may be great in a Fortune 500 company, but is she really what your $30mm company needs?
  • Put yourself in situations to meet new people that fit. No matter what anyone tells you, it’s not a game of numbers, it’s all about defining and measuring fit.
  • That wild guy or gal you wouldn’t bring home to Mom, is probably not going to be your SO or your best customer, no matter what he is willing to pay.
  • As soon as you meet “Mr. or Ms. right”, go out with someone else (when we get fixated on winning one partner, customer, employee, we can appear desperate. As Vistage speaker, Tom Searcy says, “play like you have nothing to lose.”
  • Go on a date with anyone once (okay, not someone you know is an ax murderer).
  • Go on a second date, if there was a spark of interest.
  • When she says she needs some time alone, or the prospect doesn’t get back to us right away, its not the time to call a day later and suggest coffee.
  • Once you have made a commitment, be committed.  Give your customer, employee, vendor a chance to right a wrong.
  • And.. when a relationship fails (or the service is consistently poor), don’t drag out the exit. End it, learn from your mistakes, decide what to look for next round and start the cycle again.

For an amusing, albeit somewhat crass, perspective on the subject:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/kristinchirico/ways-building-a-startup-is-just-like-dating

Elisa K. Spain

All That Matters Is Culture

All That Matters Is Culture

http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photo-strategy-structure-culture-image26561510The theme in my Vistage CEO and Key Executive Groups for 2014 is “All That Matters is Culture”. Each meeting, the host shares a bit about how this applies in their company. Here are some of the comments I have heard so far…

  • We have a “can-do culture”. When I interview prospective employees, I ask questions that tell me how the person has demonstrated this in previous jobs.
  • Our core values reflect our culture. I have articulated ours to each employee and I am asking employees to tell stories about actions that have been taken that demonstrate how these core values resonate for them. For example, we have a value of integrity, I want to hear stories about how employees have made choices that reflect the integrity choice. I publish these stories so other employees see them.
  • We have a lot of temporary employees. When it comes to culture, I treat them the same as the full-time employees. I want them to know our culture and feel good about working for our company.
  • We share our core values and our culture with our customers. The more they know about us, the more effectively we can serve them. Similarly with our suppliers, when we share common values with our suppliers, we deliver a better product.
  • In the past, I had some talented people who didn’t fit our culture. It was difficult to make the decision that these people had to go. And, once I made this decision, the performance of the rest of team improved exponentially.

I will add to this list later in the year. Meantime if you have stories to add, please click on comments.

Elisa K. Spain