Category: Culture

Do Titles Matter?

December 16, 2012 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Last week I had the chance to listen to Vistage speaker and futurist David Houle. David talked about coming changes, many of which are driven not only by technology, but by Millennials entering the workforce. We are already seeing flattening organizations and a move away from hierarchy and titles and offices and cubicles and all the stuff Baby Boomers and Generation Xers are comfortable with. In entrepreneurial companies, which make up the majority of our Vistage groups, hierarchies never existed. These companies pride themselves on being nimble and quick to respond to marketplace demands. The result is a competitive advantage, now more than ever, because these are the companies able to attract and retain Millennials. As Vistage companies grow, we Chairs encourage owners to build a leadership team so they can build a sustainable enterprise. Owners want experienced leaders to do this – In walks the boomers and Xers, accustomed to structure and ready to create that sustainable enterprise, and with their ability to create processes to support a sustainable enterprise, comes their comfort and desire for hierarchy, titles, offices, etc.

CLASH

Perhaps as David says, as the Millennials become leaders, this will all even out. In the meantime, here are my questions for Boomer and Generation X leaders and followers:

Is it time to pause and ask, how much of what I expect in terms of hierarchy, paying dues, etc. matters?
What recognition is truly important for me to feel successful in my organization?
When joining a new organization or taking on an assignment, what behaviors, rather than titles and trappings, should I be asking for from my leader that will set me up to succeed?

Are You A Bad Boss? Are You Sure You Aren't?

September 9, 2012 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Most of us think of a bad boss as one who explodes, intimidates and otherwise behaves badly. The reality is this type of bad boss represents less than 20% of the behavior that actually defines the worst bosses (based on research conducted by Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman). For the full results of Zenger and Folkman’s findings, click here.

The more common “bad boss” shows up in one the following ways (in order of most to least fatal):

Failure to inspire.
Acceptance of mediocre performance.
Lack of clear vision and direction.
An inability to collaborate.
Failure to walk the talk.
Failure to improve and learn from mistakes.
Inability to lead change or innovate owing to a resistance to new ideas.
Failure to develop others.
Inept interpersonal skills.
Bad judgement – leading to poor decision.

In short, even if we are kind and soft spoken; if we aren’t demonstrating leadership, we are not good bosses.

Vistage members know this and that is why they join. As you read through the list and the accompanying article, I encourage you to ask yourself:

Which qualities on the list do I excel at?
How might I become a better boss by focusing on #6?

Is Your Leadership Team Your Co-Advisor Or ?

July 22, 2012 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Businesses are assets, right? What might happen if we followed the best practices of investment management in running them?

When we hire an advisor to manage our traditional portfolio of stocks and bonds, the first thing they want to know is the answer to the following two questions:

Will you delegate full responsibility for managing your portfolio to me? or
Will the account be co-advised, meaning, before I make a purchase or sale in your portfolio, I must consult with you?

When the owner of the portfolio chooses #1, the client and the advisor work together to design a portfolio that meets the risk tolerance of the client, the advisor constructs the portfolio and typically the advisor provides reports, usually monthly or quarterly, that inform the owner of the status of their portfolio. Additionally, the advisor’s reports include a comparison of their performance to that of their peer group.

The full process is based on the DIME method (coined by my friend Scott Morgan, author of an out-of-print book by the same title). DIME: Design, Implement, Monitor, Evaluate.

Sometimes, the owner of the portfolio chooses #1, but instead of delegating authority, monitoring the performance of the portfolio, and periodically evaluating the portfolio manager; the owner abdicates, i.e. moves on to other things and ignores the portfolio manager.

I heard a sad story from a friend recently who chose option #1, neglected the monitor and evaluate part, and didn’t discover the result until he needed the money and discovered it was gone. The advisor was not dishonest, he simply made poor investment choices.

Ok, so what does this have to do with leadership and running a business? Here is what I have learned as a Vistage Chair and leadership coach.

The “portfolio managers” of our business are our leadership team, our key executives. Each business owner has a risk tolerance that leads them to be more or less involved in activities in their businesses. The result sometimes is key executives either feel micromanaged or business owners abdicate instead of delegate, only to jump back in when things are not going as they expected (but didn’t verbalize).

This seesaw drives both owners and key executives crazy and leads to outcomes neither wants. What if instead owners and key executives sat down together and asked the investment manager questions. These questions might include some of the following:

What decisions will I have full responsibility for?
Which decisions do you want to co-advise?
What risks are you most concerned about?
What kind of reporting works best for you? Written, verbal?
What do you want to monitor, and on what frequency?
How will my performance be evaluated?

And finally the most important question,

What is our agreement as to how to give each other feedback when the outcomes or the process didn’t go as we expected?

Leading Change, When Is Enough, Enough?

July 1, 2012February 2, 2023 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Leaders drive change in their businesses for a variety of reasons; the two primary reasons are:

When the leader sees opportunities the current structure does not support
When industry changes threaten the current business model

Both of these scenarios create a sense of urgency on the part of most leaders and much has been written about how to lead change. Pundits will say, it is important to have confidence in yourself and stay the course. Moreover, it is important for the leader to overcome objections as it is human nature to resist change.

We are living in a world of constant change – and the pace continues to increase. We tell ourselves and our teams that we must adjust to this pace or we will be left behind.

And, how do you know when enough is enough? How do you know when your team truly can’t keep up?

If you are driving change in your organization and have been at it for awhile, here are some questions for you:

Are you seeing signs of change fatigue?
Are you noticing some people who are “off their game”?
Are others becoming ill?
Are the people you counted on in the past to lead with a positive and supportive attitude no longer playing that role?

If the answer to any of these questions is yes, is it time to check in with your team and perhaps re-calibrate the pace?

Leadership Vs. Management – Does It Matter?

May 6, 2012 by Elisa Spain5 Comments

Recently, one of my Vistage members asked the group this question: “What is the difference between leadership and management?”

He heard a lot of responses and the one that said it best was this one…

“Leadership is doing the right things, management is doing things right.” from management guru Warren Bennis

What does it mean to do things right? Here are my top 5:

Leadership is setting the direction
Leadership is inspiring when there are tailwinds and when there are headwinds
Leadership is being intentional about your culture
Leadership is accountability
Leadership is making tough choices

And here are my questions for you:

What else would you add to this list?
If you and your leadership team did your job well as leaders and managed the agreements you have with your team, how might the role of management evolve?

What Makes For A "Best Place To Work"?

April 8, 2012 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Last week, Crain’s Chicago Business published their annual list of “Chicago’s Best Places To Work”. As I read through the list, I was struck by the differences in the companies that made it to the top ten. The list included Fortune 500 companies, companies with less than 100 employees, technology companies, financial services companies, manufacturers, etc. etc.

In short, the list was very diverse. The diversity of the list is what caused me, as a leadership coach to pause and ask “What is the leadership lesson?”

My sense is the answer lies in the wisdom we gained from Edgar Papke, a Vistage Speaker who spoke to several of my groups in the last month on the topic of Alignment: How to Build and Lead High Performing Teams and Organizations. We learned from Edgar that it isn’t about one culture being “better” than another. Rather, the goal is to align your customer needs and your unique selling proposition with your culture. Companies that achieve this alignment, according to Edgar, consistently outperform their competitors.

Extrapolating from Edgar, what makes companies “winners” as best places to work, are those that achieve this alignment.

So, before you start adopting the practices of the companies you read about in the list, I encourage you to pause and ask yourself:

What is the culture of my company?
Is our culture in alignment with our customer needs?
What gaps in alignment can we address that will make this a “best place to work”?

To read the Crain’s article click here.

For more on Edgar Papke and Alignment including measurement tools, click here.

Leadership Quote: Those Who Failed To Oppose Me…

March 25, 2012 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This month’s leadership quote: “Those who failed to oppose me… who readily agreed with me and accepted all my views…were those who did me the most injury.” -Napoleon Bonaparte

As leaders, how do we avoid the trap of responding only to those who agree with us?

What do we do each day to encourage our employees to tell us what they really think?
Are we able to hear feedback from those who disagree and not brand it as “not being a team player”?
What forums do we have to solicit input from our employees who are “on the line”?
What actions have we taken lately that demonstrate we heard and listened to opposing views?

The Introvert's Guide To Leadership (& The Extrovert's Guide To Leading Introverts)

March 18, 2012 by Elisa Spain2 Comments

Some say 40% -50% of the top large company CEO’s are introverts, including Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Charles Schwab and Steve Spielberg. Amongst entrepreneurs, the numbers are higher. Why? Because entrepreneurs frequently are the expert at their chosen business and experts most often are introverts.

So what does this mean for those of us who are introverted leaders and for extroverts with introverted leaders on your team?

As with all style differences, first start by celebrating and leveraging the differences in style. While other factors come into play in style differences, the key difference between introverts and extroverts is where they draw their energy. Both introverts and extroverts seek input. Introverts tend to seek the input and then “go within” to think things over and make a decision. Extroverts tend to think out loud, drawing their energy from the interaction with others. One thing to keep in mind about introverts – they aren’t necessarily shy, frequently just quiet – taking it all in.

Introverted leaders are frequently your “back of the room” leaders – they are calm, unemotional and perceived as wise. They are the ones that speak infrequently, but when they do, everyone listens.

Extroverted leaders are typically the “charismatic leader” – they are engaging, inspiring and people are naturally drawn to them.

If you are an introverted leader, leverage your natural strengths:

allow yourself to pause and reflect before making a decision and let others know that this is your style
leverage your ability to build relationships with small groups inside and outside your company
And, take note when it is time to access your extroversion to rally the troops inside your company or externally show up as an ambassador

If you are an extrovert leading introverted leaders, you can help by…

giving the introvert time to think
asking them what they think rather than assuming by being quiet they are not in agreement
inspiring the introvert to step out of their comfort zone when it it time for them to be inspiring to the team

Lisa Petrilli, a fellow leadership coach, has a great series of posts on this topic starting with The Five Myths about Extroversion from the Harvard Business Review Blog Network.

Innovation Vs. Discipline Part 2: Kodak Vs. Fujifilm

March 11, 2012 by Elisa Spain1 Comment

Lots of press swirling around the impending bankruptcy of Kodak. While Kodak suffers, its long-time rival Fujifilm is doing rather well. Why? Is it innovation or is it discipline? (See March 4, 2011 Blog, post Which is the Winning Strategy? Innovation or Discipline for Part I)

At one time, Kodak was one of the most innovative and disciplined companies in the world, with a rigorous approach to manufacturing. And, discipline is more than discipline in production; discipline also is a disciplined approach to the market – recognizing AND acting on changes in market dynamics.

Kodak and Fuji both saw digital coming. Fuji acted, Kodak was complacent. (Success breeds arrogance?)

Fuji continued their film business while diversifying into other business lines. They were consistent and disciplined in their approach to new markets. They identified market opportunities, invested in exploring the new markets and when satisfied the opportunity was there, had the vision and leadership to move forward with the investment and organizational changes required to reconstruct their business model.

Kodak on the other hand, dabbled in opportunities while never making the investment and organizational changes required to adapt to the new world. They became a victim instead.

For me, as a leadership coach, this story of Kodak and Fuji, raises the following questions for CEO’s and leaders of successful businesses:

What is the equivalent of the digital camera for us?
Are we noticing when we are becoming complacent?
Are we in tune with market changes and prepared to act in a disciplined manner?
Do we have the cash or sources of capital to make the investment in diversification?
Are we willing to make the uncomfortable organizational changes necessary to diversify into new markets?

The Economist details the story of both companies in this article, “The last Kodak moment?”