Problem Solving Or Management?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Continuing the theme of execution:

As leaders and managers, we have been taught to find the root cause and fix the problem.  And, in my experience, some problems can’t be “solved” (and, hopefully, made to go away) – they must be managed and may require the leader’s repetitive attention and time.

For me the key word here is repetition. For anything to be sustainable, it must be repeated. We humans get distracted, forget what we learned and have to be reminded. This is what Vistage is all about. Our members hear from a speaker 8 times a year. Do you really think each speaker brings something new to the table? Rather, they often are reinforcing a similar message. And, we hear the message differently depending on where we are in our lives and our businesses at the time. An entrepreneur leading a start-up will hear a leadership message differently 10 years later when he or she is challenged with building a leadership team that will lead to a sustainable enterprise.

I asked one of our long term Vistage members recently if he had ever considered leaving Vistage. His answer was “never, I learn something at every meeting, every one-to-one.” He leads a highly successful, high growth business. My belief is he learns something new each time, because he comes ready to listen each time.

The same is true for the people that work for us. Some problems can’t be solved, because things happen. Life isn’t static and our businesses and our processes aren’t static. I frequently talk about the DIME Method: Design, Implement, Monitor, Evaluate. For me the repetition speaks to the Monitor and Evaluate part of the continuum. As problems get solved and things change, we must monitor, evaluate and then design again.

As you mull over this idea that problems can’t be solved, I encourage you to ask yourself the following questions:

  • When was the last time I monitored or evaluated the systems I have in place?
  • Are we doing things, “because that’s the way we have always done it”?
  • Am I ready to look and listen with fresh eyes to what I have heard and seen before?

 

Elisa K. Spain

 

 

Is It Capacity Or Is It Making Choices?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Working with CEOs over the last dozen or so years, I observed several common traits in those who successfully grow their businesses. I have written in the past about the importance of having a vision, having the right people, and having strong execution. Another more subtle characteristic shared by successful leaders… They seem to have an incredible “capacity”.

Webster defines capacity as…

  • the potential or suitability for holding, storing, or accommodating 
  • an individual’s mental or physical ability
  • the faculty or potential for treating, experiencing, or appreciating
  • the facility or power to produce, perform, or deploy:  maximum output

It’s this facility for maximum output that I am referring to. The ability to take on more, to handle more stress, to be present regardless of outside circumstances, to simply do more. It’s more than ability, it’s well, capacity.

And, here’s what I observe… while it appears that these leaders can simply handle more and do more than others, it is also their ability to choose. To make a choice and accept that when they choose, they may disappoint someone. And, they allow themselves to be okay with that.

Elisa K. Spain

Oops, I Wish I Hadn't Said That, I Wish I Had Done This….

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Back in elementary school, when playing sports, we often were allowed a ‘do-over’. As we got older, coaches and teachers stopped allowing this. The ball had to be played where it was. I suspect the reason for this was to “prepare us for life”. And, so we learned, no ‘do-overs’, if I screwed up or forgot to do something, too late, can’t fix it.

  • While, there must be rules in games (no way to score if there are not), does everything in life have to play by these same rules?
  • What if when we said something we wished we hadn’t, we simply went back to the person and said, “I am sorry, I wish I hadn’t said that, what I wanted to say is this…”
  • What if we wanted to do this, we went back and simply did it?

In short, what if we started with the premise that nothing in life is irreparable or irretrievable, except death. While certainly words matter, see my blog of this same name (Words Matter), actions speak loudly and ‘do-overs’ are a great way to take action and demonstrate intent. Another way to think about it… it’s not what you do, it’s what you do next.

Elisa K. Spain

 

 

Who Gets To Decide?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Just about every leadership book and every leadership speaker talks about the importance of allowing people to fail. The concept is: true delegation does not occur unless and until I allow people to make their own decisions, take their own risks and succeed or fail on their own.

Easy to say, hard to do, on so many levels. Some of the common questions are:

  • How much risk should I allow them to take?
  • What if I am certain they are making the wrong decision; a decision that is going to cost me money, put the company at risk, put the person at risk, etc. How can I simply look away and allow the failure to occur?
  • How many failures are okay?

Lately, I have come to realize this question, who gets to decide, applies in our business life and in our personal lives. It applies to our children and to our aging parents. Just recently this realization was brought home to me with the following stories.

The teenage son of a friend is more focused on sports than on his homework, a familiar story. Mom says, “we have to make him do his homework”. Thus ensures a fight between mom and son. Dad says, “let him suffer the consequences if he chooses not to do his homework”. Who gets to decide? Who is “right”?

The 89 year old father of a friend has cancer. His actions indicate he is confused about what he wants. He says he is willing to get treatment, but he misses his appointments. He lives alone and refuses a live-in caregiver, or even a visiting caregiver. Prior to the diagnosis, he was cognitively in fine shape. Son says, “we have to make him go for his treatments”.  Daughter says, “if he wants to be alone, doesn’t attend his appointments, doesn’t return the doctor’s phone calls, it’s his decision to make, not ours”.

Back to the three questions above…

  • How much risk should I allow them to take?
  • What if I am certain they are making the wrong decision, a decision that is going to cost me money. How can I simply look away and allow the failure to occur?
  • How many failures are okay?

Which choice is the more courageous one? Who gets to decide?

Elisa K. Spain

Is It Good Enough?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

How often do we notice something, point it out and then regret it later; wishing we had kept quiet? 

How often do we wait for more information, or better information, and miss an opportunity?

There is both a time factor and a human factor to achieving results. We often wait too long, strive for that final 5%, hoping to have perfect info upon which to base our decision.  

Or, instead of building up the confidence of the person doing the job, we ask for one more change, one more fix and lose sight of appreciating what has already been accomplished.

In our quest for excellence, sometimes we forget that perfection and excellence are not the same. Excellence sometimes is simply knowing what to accept as good enough and what to overlook.

Here’s an idea…

Today, instead of looking around your office, your plant, or your long to-do list and noticing what is missing:

  • What if instead, you noticed a critical item that is working and gave someone specific, positive feedback?
  • And, decided to overlook something less important, that may not be exactly what you wanted, but is really good enough?

 

 

Elisa K. Spain

 

Leadership Is Often About Being Uncomfortable

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

What?? How can leadership be about being uncomfortable? Isn’t confidence a key characteristic of leadership? Yes and…. only a confident person is willing to sit with discomfort.

One of my Vistage members reminded me of this last week. We were talking about some changes he is making in his organization, specifically around allowing others to take responsibility for decisions and allowing them to succeed or fail without his intervention.

He was expressing how uncomfortable he was in doing this – his exact words were, “this is difficult, frustrating and not my happy place”. His happy place, aka his comfortable place, is as a doer. At the same time, he wants to continue to grow this business and invest in other businesses. He knows this will only come with leverage, i.e. building a leadership team and allowing them to lead without his direct oversight.

When I challenged him on his statement about being frustrated and unhappy, wondering if he was planning to go back to “doing”, he got angry. He said, “I have no plans to change anything. I am okay being uncomfortable, I am simply acknowledging that I am”.

Another reminder, happiness in the long run often requires being uncomfortable in the short-term; and having the confidence to simply be there.

 

 

Elisa K. Spain

Entrepreneurial Success Is Not About Taking Risk

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

There is a long held belief that successful entrepreneurs are high risk takers. In fact, the common lore says, “not only do they take more risks, they are successful because of it.”

Over the last 15 years I have worked with over a hundred entrepreneurs, first as a business advisor and then as a Vistage Chair. My experience tells me otherwise.

Here’s what I observe:

  • Successful entrepreneurs follow the same practices the Great by Choice CEOs follow in Jim Collins’ book.
  • They have a clear vision of where they are headed.
  • They hire top talent and their employees understand their vision.
  • They invest in opportunities that support their vision.
  • They only invest in opportunities they understand, and where they have experience or vision, that gives them reason to expect the return they are seeking.

Finally, successful entrepreneurs have an instinctive sense of timing. It is this instinct, coupled with the discipline outlined above, that sets successful entrepreneurs apart.

Perhaps to the outsider who doesn’t see what the entrepreneur sees, it is this instinct that appears as taking high risk.

 

Elisa K. Spain

 

What Happens When Market Forces Intervene?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Last week I wrote about healthy body, healthy mind = healthy business. One of my readers reminded me, there is a corollary. While, the CEO’s health can and does impact the business, what happens when the business faces market forces and impacts the health of the CEO?

On the one hand, what happens when the market cycle is a down cycle?

While we all would like to believe we can separate ourselves from what is happening to us, we know that, at least for most of us, that isn’t so. Losses in our life affect our well-being. And, business losses, which are part of our lives, can impact our sense of well-being and therefore our health.

On the flip side, what about when things are consistently good for an extended period of time? Do we become complacent, or what I call the “fat cat” syndrome? Life is good, so why not enjoy, enjoy, enjoy. And, when does enjoyment become a negative health factor?

Here’s the story of the reader who contacted me…

  •  Each time his business hits a tough cycle, competitors have gone out, his company dipped and then survived and then thrived each time – with new achievements. And, at the same time, while his well-being was impacted, feeling depressed, losing weight, he continued to focus on health and fitness. My sense is, his business recovery has consistently outperformed because he continued to take care of his mental and physical hygiene, even when things looked their bleakest.
  • And then when things are on an upswing, he began to relax; life feels good, he feels good. He continues to work out, and finds himself eating, traveling, enjoying more and gaining weight. Again, he is mindful of this result and once again begins to focus on health and hygiene.

I am grateful to this reader for reminding me that maintaining our mental and physical health is a balancing act that ebbs and flows, and to be mindful of the impact of both ups and downs.

Healthy Mind, Healthy Body = Healthy Business

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

I recently heard a CEO say “when I am healthy, my business is healthy”. And then over the weekend, I watched this TED talk Why We All Need to Practice Emotional First Aid.

I have been thinking about both the CEO’s statement and this TED talk in the context of CEOs I have known or observed over the years. My reflective observation is, he is right; there is a strong correlation between the health of the leader and the health of the business.

In the public company arena, we see the impact on stock prices when the CEO becomes physically ill.

In the private company arena, where most of the CEOs I work with reside, those that focus on their health and fitness are the ones that lead successful companies. I have watched CEOs move from poor mental and/or physical health to good health and back again and observed the company performance move in tandem.

While a component of health is genetic and beyond our control, research continues to show that lifestyle, nutrition and fitness are directly related to emotional and physical health.

So, as we go through our daily busi-ness, what can each of us do to pause, reflect and recognize we have a fiduciary responsibility as leaders to practice both physical and mental hygiene?

Can A Focus On Culture Produce Financial Results?

by Elisa Spain1 Comment

 

In 2014, the theme for my Vistage groups was All That Matters is Culture. We talk about culture a lot in Vistage and we have several speakers that focus on this topic. Certainly we can all agree that focusing on culture creates a more consistent workplace. I say consistent, rather than harmonious, because as we learned from Vistage speaker, Edgar Papke, each culture is different – The important thing is to know what your culture is, hire accordingly and ensure your culture (inward facing) is consistent with your brand (outward facing).

And…when we went around the table at the end of the year, two of my CEO members shared that they had their best year yet (both had been in business 15+ years). When the other members asked the reason, both said, without hesitation, “because I focused on culture more than anything else this year. I got rid of the cancers. Everyone who is with my company today reflects the culture. I see it, the customers see it, and frankly to my surprise, the bottom line shows it”.

In one case, one of the CEOs fired his #2 producer. A risky move, so he thought. In fact, he even expected a down year as a result.  He decided the risk was worth it.

Good thing he took the risk because… he was one of the CEOs to report the best year ever.

Elisa K. Spain