The Other Side Of Success

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Opt 3 Sept 21

When does confidence become hubris?

So much is written about the importance of confidence and yet, there is a dark ugly side too. We see it every day in the press – rock stars, sports stars, politicians and others, who have so much confidence that they begin to make choices out of hubris.

Well, we say, they are stars, this doesn’t happen amongst “regular leaders”. And, while we may want this to be true, my experience is, it happens in every arena where leaders are successful.

We all know the leader that made it big and acts as though s/he has the “Midas touch”. After the one success they believe everything they try, everything they touch will be the same. Or, they feel the need to tell everyone about their accomplishments, and they don’t feel the need to listen. After all, they already know it all; they accomplished what others have not.

We also know the leader who despite success after success is humble. Who, when asked how they accomplished what they did, points to the people s/he has learned from, rather than their own brilliance. The leader who is on a lifetime journey of learning, who believes no matter what their accomplishments, they can always accomplish more by listening to others.

Which of these describes you?

Which do you want to be?

If your choice is the humble leader, what are you doing to stay curious and continue to learn?

What Happens When Steady-Growth Companies Stomp On The Gas Pedal?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Opt 3 Sept 14

When steady-growth companies decide to stomp on the gas pedal, especially with new leaders, it is convenient to assume the “old timers” are just fine and will take care of themselves while all else goes to growth. Be wary of unintended consequences…

When a company is young – it is all about growth – and everyone is in the same place. It is all about hunting (in the hunter/farmer view of sales). When a company is in steady growth, there is a mix of hunters & farmers, with an emphasis on farmers.

 

Then when there is a shift to fast growth, frequently with a new leader and/or new ownership with a new approach to governance, the focus shifts back to hunting, as with a start-up.

 

Except, it isn’t a start-up. There still are these established relationships between account managers and their clients. The needs of the tenured account managers and their tenured clients are different from the hunters bringing on new clients. Similarly, long tenured employees in operations, and other support areas, are particularly impacted by the refocus on growth.

 

It is convenient for leaders to assume the “old timers” are just fine and will adapt, while all else goes to growth. Not true. We all want to feel valued and important.

 

So the question for the leadership of any established company on a fast growth path is, “How do you engage, (i.e. win the hearts, not just signatures on legal documents) of high performers and key clients?”

 

And the question for a board of directors is, “What responsibility do you have to steward the growth strategy in a manner that does not result in unintended consequences to the culture?”

The Unrecognized Value of Operational Excellence

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Opt 9 Aug 24

Strategy and sales are the key to success, right? Well, yes, and no. Yes, they are important and without execution and operational excellence, they don’t matter. As Thomas Edison said so well, vision w/o execution is hallucination. 

So how do we get there? The DIME Method (Design, Implement, Monitor & Evaluate)  is a start. And, it’s the M & the E that get you to that operational excellence and where governance comes in.

It starts with figuring out what to monitor and keeping it simple, and then circling back and evaluating progress and measurements, making Design adjustments, Implementing those changes and starting the Monitor and Evaluate process again.

The successful CEOs I work with that have achieved operational excellence consistently follow these three key actions:

  • They identify the 3-5 key measures of success and monitor those daily, these could be sales calls, throughput, rework; what to watch depends on their business
  • They act when the the key measures indicate a variance, and they don’t wait and don’t accept excuses
  • They have a culture of co-accountability; their team holds each other accountable for the results they agree to

And,  they design compensation plans that are consistent with the results they want, e.g. if net income is the goal, the leadership team is ‘bonused’ (deferred or current) on results, and they work together to get to those results.

Elisa K. Spain

Hold The Advice…

Hold The Advice…

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Opt 1 May 18 Blog

When we discover something new, or see someone we know in pain, or struggling with a problem, we want to help, to solve the problem. And off we go, giving advice. And, more often than not, that advice is received with resistance. “How can that be?”, we ask, “I genuinely wanted to help, and I am sensing my advice is not being well received”.

Here are some examples I have experienced lately, perhaps you can name one or two of your own:

  • I was watching my partner try and figure out how to do something on his Ipad. He didn’t ask for help, but there I was offering a “better way”; just wanting to save him time I said…
  • A friend found a new exercise program for his back, and instead of simply sharing his happiness with the results, he was working really hard to convince me to agree to try it (even though I reminded him I have one I use).
  • A colleague and I were discussing best practices, sharing ideas and then, without asking, I received a series of emails offering advice.

Offering unsolicited advice is the opposite of asking the better question. So, next time you are tempted to give advice, don’t. Wait until you are asked. And if you must say something, consider asking a question.

 

Elisa K. Spain

The Other Side Of Change

The Other Side Of Change

by Elisa Spain1 Comment

7 May 4 imagesF7X46U34

 

As leaders, we are frequently driving change. Lots has been written on how to do it effectively. Two weeks ago, I published a blog about the challenges and opportunities associated with changing, or bending an organization’s culture.

And, while change can be good for an organization, tinkering sometimes may not. We all know the leader who loves change for change sake, whether it’s a new award system, a new comp plan, a new training program, a new sales structure, the key word is new. Change, for change sake. Harmless, perhaps. And perhaps not.

My experience is those of us who say we like change, are thinking “we like driving change”. I have yet to meet a person who says “I love having change thrust upon me”.

With this in mind, next time you are thinking about making a change in your organization, pause and ask yourself, “what is driving this desire for change”?

Is something not working or is something going on with me, perhaps I am bored? And if it ain’t broke, perhaps the best thing to do is to pause, before setting out to fix it.

 

Elisa K. Spain

Ask, The Answer May Surprise You

Ask, The Answer May Surprise You

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Opt 2 2014-04-13Sometimes, in our zeal to anticipate our customers’ needs, we forget to ask what they prefer.

The notion of anticipating customer needs has been around for some time. And… certainly it makes sense when it comes to product development. Steve Jobs was famous for anticipating customer needs; knowing that we often don’t know what we are going to want next, best to give it to us and let us try it out. While it isn’t easy to anticipate customer product preferences, when we do it successfully, awesome innovations enter our society.

I wonder though, if we have taken this notion of anticipating needs beyond where it was intended, i.e. toward anticipating (guessing) preferences. I keep learning that when I guess at what someone wants, I am often wrong. Here are some small examples:

  • I believe the customer I meet with regularly wants to meet in the morning, so I keep scheduling morning meetings. It turns out, she would prefer afternoons and thinks I am only available in the mornings.
  • I believe a customer has referred someone to me because they expect me to include them in my vendor search. But instead, he is indifferent, and just providing a referral in case I need one.
  • Because my service provider is organized and intentional, I assume she is inflexible and unwilling to adapt to my scheduling preferences.

In short,  ask for what you want and ask them what they want; the answer may surprise you.

 

Elisa K. Spain

 

 

Did I Delegate Or Did I Abdicate?

Did I Delegate Or Did I Abdicate?

by Elisa Spain1 Comment

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?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

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?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

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

Delivery ALWAYS Matters…

Delivery ALWAYS Matters…

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Businessman testing a microphone about to make a speach at a press conferenceWhen the stakes are high, we prepare. Whether it is a presentation to a large audience or a meeting with a key client or prospective client, we know we will be more successful if we prepare.

  • What exactly does it mean “to prepare”?
  • When aren’t the stakes high?
  • When we focus on content and not on our audience, are we really prepared?

Last week, I had the opportunity to hear a speaker and deliver a presentation of my own, where in both cases, the content was outstanding and yet the message was not received well by most of the audience. These two experiences reminded me of two important facts:

Delivery always matters – It’s not enough to prepare our content. It is at least as important to consider the audience, prepare our delivery and adjust midstream as we read the audience reaction. Not easy to do, and yet, critical to having our message heard.

Prepare for every interaction as though the stakes are high, because they are – Every interaction with another human being, either as a group or with individuals, matters. When we are fully present, we listen, we adapt and thus can be effective.

 

Elisa K. Spain