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

Celebrate Your Gift

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Each year at this gift-giving time, I am reminded that we all have natural gifts.

Our challenge is to notice our strengths and work to enhance them. In my Vistage work, and as a leadership coach,  I refer to this as discovering and working in our genius.

While personal growth and development are part of living a full life, and after all this is what Vistage is all about, the successful CEOs and executives I know are the ones who work to become excellent at what they are already good at. And… these same successful people surround themselves with people who bring their own strengths, filling in the gaps.

As you reflect on your accomplishments for 2014, and think about 2015, take a moment and ask yourself:

  • What are my gifts? How did they serve me this year? How will they serve me next year?
  • What am I striving for that I could instead delegate to someone else?
  • What can I accept simply not doing?

Once we know and understand our strengths, and focus on them, we not only become more effective, we become more satisfied, and ultimately become better leaders.

Elisa K. Spain

P.S. This is the last post for 2014. Happy Holidays to all!  See you in the New Year.

Today Is Giving Tuesday

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Today, on Giving Tuesday, nonprofits, families, businesses and students around the world come together for one common purpose: to celebrate generosity and to give. Here in Illinois, Donors Forum, led by Eric Weinheimer (former member and friend of Vistage), is coordinating this initiative. They have one bold goal: #ILGIVEBIG, $12 million raised by Illinois nonprofits from 100,000 individual donors — in one day.

To celebrate today, I created a matching gift opportunity.

Many of you know about my passion for The CARA Program, a true social innovator (the only social purpose organization nominated for the Chicago Innovation Award).

Right now, anyone who chooses to give to this mission, I will match that gift, dollar for dollar, up to $5,000 (total gift of $10,000).

To make a donation of any amount, click here.  (And, please add “Elisa Spain Matching Gift” in the comments section to ensure your gift is matched.)

Thank you in advance for joining me on Giving Tuesday with a donation to the Cara Program, or to the social purpose organization of your choice.

The Oft Unheralded Challenge Of Change

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

Leading change in an organization is full of challenges. Most of these challenges are associated with creating a vision, inspiring action, achieving buy-in, and sustaining the change. John Kotter, noted for his work on this topic, offers an 8 step process that offers an excellent roadmap.

I am noticing a 1/2 step challenge of change, that while banal, can derail a change initiative when ignored. This oft unheralded challenge is simply that everyone hears through their own filter, and therefore the actions we see are not the actions we expected. Obvious perhaps, and yet when leading change, we sometimes think that things are not happening the way we want because people are resisting.

  • Sometimes, they simply didn’t hear
  • or what they heard is different from what I thought I said
  • or they need to hear it more than once; 7 times I have been told is the magic number
  • or they need to do it more than once, or even twice, to “get it”
  • or we simply need to allow time for the change to settle in

So, next time, before calling out a “resister”, first pause and ask them what they heard.

 

 

Elisa K. Spain

Another View On Co-Accountability?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

2014-11-07

Last week, one of the members of my CEO group sent this Facebook post to the group. And, much like the comments on the actual post, there was a mix of “isn’t this cool?” to the cynical, “what if the person has never done anything positive?”

The discussion caused me to pause. Vistage speaker, Michel Allosso, talks about giving a person TSP: Truthful, Specific, Positive feedback. Do it enough, he says, to earn the right to give constructive feedback. While Vistage Speaker, Balaji Krishnamurthy, teaches us co-accountability: The key to a successful organization is when members of our team have expectations of each other and hold each other accountable for meeting them.

What this Facebook post says to me is, perhaps the answer is to combine the two. I wonder if in the story I told last week, the reason Southwest Airlines has both a collegial and a co-accountable culture is because they combine both TSP and co-accountability…

  • Imagine what would happen in your organization if you had both?
  • What one action step might you take today to begin a journey down this path?

Elisa K. Spain

 

 

Can Co-Accountability Happen In Your Culture?

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

 

In Vistage, and amongst leaders in general, we talk a lot about accountability. We use terms like “we need to hold them accountable”, or “we need to hold ourselves accountable”.

One of our speakers, Balaji Krishnamurthy, often talks instead about co-accountability and how this practice is directly tied to producing results. The concept is simple. Members of a team, an organization, or even a Vistage group, are accountable to each other, to respect the values and agreements they have with each other. And, they call each other out for non-compliance. In short, the members of the team, take full responsibility for governance.

The concept is simple, everyone nods their head in agreement and… the execution is hard.

This co-accountability can happen in two ways:

  • Balaji says the most effective way is in the moment, in the meeting.
  • Option 2 is for members of the team to have a conversation outside the meeting, again, soon after the event.

Yikes, some say, ….

  • Is anyone really going to step up and call someone out in a meeting?
  • Isn’t it the leader’s responsibility to deal with issues?
  • Is this a practice that only works in certain types of cultures?

And, in a co-accountable culture, what is the leader’s role?

  • Is it to open up space for the feedback?
  • Is it to give the feedback first?
  • Is it to encourage those who are willing to speak up and ensure positive consequences for taking this risk?

Finally, can this work in all cultures?

I will leave you with a story I heard recently from a friend about how this works at Southwest Airlines, an organization where results are legendary in a collegial culture that is also legendary.

My friend who told me this story is retired from a 20+ year career in the airline industry. At the time, she was an airport manager for one of the large airlines. Someone on her team discovered and reported to her that a Southwest employee was using, and reusing, a meal voucher for this large airline. My friend handled it the normal way, she reported it to the Southwest manager. A few days later, a couple of the employees from Southwest, not the manager, came over to my friend and said “We heard about what happened with the meal voucher. We want you to know this is not acceptable behavior for a Southwest employee. We have dealt with the situation and we sincerely apologize. You can rest assured it will not happen again and the money will be repaid”. Wow, my friend said, I can’t imagine this happening at any other airline, not then, not now.

I wonder, what results we would see if each of us as leaders began to foster co-accountability in a manner consistent with the other tenets of our culture.

Elisa K. Spain

 

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?”

Caution… You are Entering Your Comfort Zone

by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Comfort Zone

The difference between a good leader and a great leader is the ability to improvise and gently push people out of their comfort zone, so says Vistage Speaker Michael Allosso.

In this TED talk, Charlie Todd helps us see the human connection that results from a shared experience — in this case, an absurd shared experience, one that takes us out of our comfort zone.

Vistage members also have shared experiences; in our case, these happen every month. As the chair and leadership coach, I regularly see the human connection that results.

I wonder about the following:

  • Is it incumbent upon as leaders to search for opportunities to create shared experiences in our companies?
  • What great things can we accomplish in our companies by pushing people out of their comfort zone and introducing more intentional and improvised shared experiences?
  • And by making this push, are we fulfilling a key component of our governance responsibility?

 

Elisa K. Spain