Leadership – Page 8 – Elisa K. Spain

Remember That First Date?

November 20, 2016November 5, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

In my practice as a Vistage chair, I often find myself noticing the similarities between business and dating. After all, dating is a “deal” of a sort, and there are “rules” and best practices we follow in an effort to get what we want, i.e. more dates, and in that special case, marriage.

Like dating, when we want that new customer, new employee or acquisition deal, there are rules and practices that business people follow to get what they want. And like dating, the “rules” are generally not written and the practices are learned along the way both from our own experience and from others who have done it before.

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 potential acquisition.
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.
Be clear about what fits with your culture.Unless your culture is one that fits, 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 you are 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, or acquisition candidate (buyer/seller), we can appear desperate). In short, 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, buyer/seller 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.

Please click on comments and share your additions to this list.

Wait I Am An Entrepreneur, Not A CEO!

November 15, 2016November 15, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

In my practice as a Vistage chair, I often hear entrepreneurs say, “I don’t want to lose the culture as I grow this company” or “We are like a family; I want to keep this feeling as we grow”. And yet as the company grows, the culture inevitably changes and the owner no longer knows the name and the family of every employee.

In the early days, everyone is equal and it is all about getting the job done, getting the orders out, meeting the customer needs. Typically the owner is the chief sales officer and innovator. As a company adds more people, “management” becomes necessary and terms like “building a leadership team” come into play.

Suddenly the owner is thrust into the role of CEO. Some enjoy the change, and most long for the simpler days when everyone was pulling together without any hierarchy. And, while longing for the “old days” s/he is excited about the growth and excited about having a broader impact.

So… s/he hires some executives and asks them to show the way. All well and good, except these folks are focused on their own career path. These key executives want the opportunity to innovate and have an impact themselves. The CEO while still expected to define the vision, must also become a coach and mentor, allowing others to grow and develop as leaders.

This transition from entrepreneurial management to professional management is what Vistage is all about. Members come together to discuss these challenges and inspire each other to make the necessary changes to achieve the results they desire. The ultimate goal for most is to build a sustainable enterprise, one where the CEO’s vision can be achieved without the CEO’s handprint.

Those that are able to make these changes are those rare few that build and lead the less than 1% of companies >$100mm in revenue.

The Unintended Consequences Of Mentorship

November 10, 2016November 10, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

During my career I have been fortunate to be a mentor to several talented individuals, and to have had wonderful mentors myself.

For me, there are few rewards in leadership that are as good as those that come from mentoring someone and watching them grow into successful leaders themselves. Similarly, I can attribute much of what I have accomplished to the mentorship I have received throughout my career. Mentors who generously gave their time and wisdom to me and modeled behavior I wanted to emulate.

And at the same time, I have discovered some unintended consequences of both being a mentor and having a mentor.

Occasionally, we are seen as mentors without realizing it. We become role models for others sometimes without knowing it. So what’s the issue? Being a role model equates with expectations. When we don’t meet those expectations, the impact can be crushing. After all, we are supposed to be wise and set a good example, and, know what to do, and, do it right… and guess what? We all fail sometimes; we all do things we aren’t proud of sometimes. In short, mentors are humans and if we expect our mentors to always do the right thing, the best thing, we will always be disappointed.

And as mentors, we forget sometimes that mentorship is not forever. We must recognize when it is time to evolve the relationship and recognize when our mentee grows beyond their mentor. It’s not that we don’t benefit from mentoring at every point in our lives; rather it is that a single mentor fulfills a role at a point in time. And then it gets sticky. What happens next? The relationship was uneven. Can it move to a peer relationship? Or does it end? Endings are sad, and sometimes necessary. In my experience, it is delightful when a mentor becomes a friend and peer. For this to happen, it takes awareness, intention and ego set aside by both people. Not easy.

So, the next time you become a mentor or seek a mentor, ask yourself, and even better ask your mentor/mentee:

What do I expect from me in this relationship?
What do you expect from me in this relationship?

What Is Our Leadership Role In Service Recovery?

September 11, 2016September 2, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

I recently had a small remodeling job in my home that, despite excellent intentions on the part of the provider, did not go well. This project failure got me thinking about service recovery and what exactly that means. I have also come to realize that the definition may be different, depending on whether you sit on the customer side or on the provider side. After all, where we stand is always based on where we sit.

Most of us, as leaders, focus our attention on getting things done right the first time. In manufacturing, error rates are measured down to the level of “six sigma”. While excellence in delivery is an appropriate goal for high performing companies, even high performing companies make mistakes. And for me, true excellence is reflected in what happens next. In short, true excellence shows up when service recovery is required.

In my experience, what the customer wants falls into two parts, acknowledgement of the error and assurance that the provider will find a solution to the problem.

What often happens looks more like this…

Instead of acknowledging there was an error, the customer contact person seeks to explain the problem. Sometimes this effort to explain may appear to the customer as avoidance or worst case, blaming the customer.

Instead of seeking to find a solution to the problem, the customer contact person may simply abdicate. Sometimes, in a true effort to please the customer, the rep leaves the problem solving to the customer, and simply says, “tell me what you want and I will do it”.

Our folks who are in front of customers all the time are faced with service recovery situations frequently. Most excellent companies train their people to do it right, and employ good quality control measures to ensure this outcome. These same companies also train their people to “give good customer service” when a problem arises. As a result, when there is a small product or service failure, the contact person can successfully diffuse and handle the situation themselves. In fact, lots has been written about empowering customer facing staff to recover, and many companies employ these techniques. Examples include “try me” items at Whole Foods, to the much quoted “Ritz Carlton way”.

Sometimes though, the failure to perform is significant both in terms of dollars and customer satisfaction. It is in these situations that excellent companies have an escalation process, perhaps even a task force to resolve the situations. For me, this represents true excellence for two reasons. First, the customer feels valued and feels assured that the problem will be solved. And, equally important, the line person has support in resolving the problem.

I leave you with these two questions:

What is your escalation process when a significant failure to deliver happens? Are you or someone from your leadership team notified immediately?
Have you defined “significant” so that your line folks know the situations they can and should handle themselves and the ones that they need to escalate?

Of Course I Embrace Diversity

September 4, 2016August 15, 2016 by Elisa Spain1 Comment

How often do we hear people say that they embrace diversity, and then behave another way? As Ralph Waldo Emerson was fond of saying, “What you do speaks so loudly, I can’t hear what you say”.

My sense is this happens because most of the time embracing diversity is easy. It’s not when folks are different from us that we are challenged, it’s when folks do something different that it becomes difficult.

As leaders, it is our job to create an environment that is accepting of everyone on the team so that the common organizational goals can be met. At the same time, in these polarized times, leaders are increasingly finding team members looking for those “doing differences” rather than looking for what they share simply by virtue of being human.

The questions that come to mind for me are:

how do we both set aside our differences, and at the same time embrace them, so that our organizations benefit from the broader thinking that diversity brings?
how do we know when to confront behavior that seems in conflict with our stated goals, or when to leave it be, because the behavior is simply based on life differences rather true conflict?

Whose Responsibility Is It?

August 21, 2016August 16, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

I am one of those people with what I call an ‘overdeveloped sense of responsibility’. And, I am working on this. What I have learned over the years is when “we” are responsible, rather than “I” am responsible, we all get to a better outcome. As part of my work as a Vistage Chair, I lead peer group meetings. Sometimes these meetings are outstanding and sometimes not. It’s easy as a leader to fall into the trap of telling myself I did a good job when they go well and blaming myself when they don’t.

And, what I have learned is fantastic days are the ones where everyone is engaged in creating a best day. And the ‘not so good days’ are the ones where something is going awry and no one says anything. Perhaps the silence comes from a place of respect for the leader; after all it is “their meeting”, its up to them to “fix it”. And when there is a series of “it’s up to him or her or them to fix it”, we can easily go from a ‘not so good meeting’, to a ‘not so good day’ or week and ultimately a ‘not so good outcome’ for the business.

All of us have the opportunity to be both leaders and followers in our daily lives. And sometimes we need to step up and take a leadership role in the moment, even when we are not the official leader. The next time you are in one of these moments, here are a few questions to consider as you perform a cost/benefit analysis of the situation:

If something is amiss in a meeting or a moment, and I stay silent, what is the potential cost to me, the group or the company?
If something is amiss and I speak up, what is the potential cost to me, the group or the company?
In a fair and bold cost/benefit analysis, what is the best and boldest choice for me to make?

How To Recharge Yourself And Your Strategic Plan

August 14, 2016August 18, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

What if we simply accept August as the time to recharge our batteries, then get a jump-start on strategic planning for next year? This week’s blog post appears on Executive Street Blog. Please click this link to view it.

To the Greeks and Romans, the “dog days” occurred in late July, when Sirius appeared to rise just before the sun. They referred to those days as the hottest time of the year, a period that could bring fever or even catastrophe.

Today we think of dog days as the time of the year marked by lethargy and often inactivity. Here’s another spin: What if we were simply to accept August as the time to recharge? And then once our batteries are charged, get a jump-start on strategic planning for next year?

All of us possess an inner reservoir of positive energy. It is this positive energy that enables us to move forward. And the human body, like all other energy-powered machines, needs to be charged regularly.

Most of us think of recharging as taking time off. For some, time off means long walks. For others, it means sitting by the beach. Still others look for adventure. All of these methods give the body an opportunity to recharge.

And what about recharging the mind? Is it possible to recharge both the mind and the body at the same time? And, like everything else, is there a benefit to being intentional?

For me, recharging the mind comes from learning. Sometimes it’s reading about leaders that inspire me, sometimes it’s watching a Ted Talk on a topic totally outside what I know and see daily. Taking this journey outside the norm gives me a new perspective and the ability to ask better questions of my clients as they plan for the coming year.

Find your source of inspiration. Become intentional about recharging during these dog days of August.

In Beyond Business • Tagged Strategic Plan, Strategic Planning

Did I Delegate Or Did I Abdicate?

August 7, 2016August 5, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

Most of us who have been in leadership roles for awhile understand the importance of delegating. It’s simply a matter of leverage; the more we delegate, the more gets done.

And… sometimes we get confused. We think we are delegating, when in fact, we are abdicating. What’s the difference?

Delegate: entrust (a task or responsibility) to another person

Abdicate: to fail to do what is required by (a duty or responsibility)

For me, one question defines the difference:

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

If the answer is, at the end, or maybe not until there is a serious problem or a disaster, we have abdicated not delegated.

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

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

“Okay”, you say, “I get that, when it comes to team members doing tasks, but certainly you don’t expect me to monitor my leadership team? That would be micromanaging!”

For me, there is a big difference between micromanaging and delegating. When we micromanage, we are checking in, hovering over, second guessing, etc., etc. Delegating, on the other hand, requires none of this. Instead when we delegate, we let the system manage accountability.

The CEO who hires a new sales manager, and then checks in daily on the activities each sales person is doing, is micromanaging. On the other hand, the sales manager who ties compensation to performance and publicly posts activity reports and results for each salesperson, is allowing the system to manage accountability. The sales team and the CEO can know at any given time who is performing, without asking or hovering.

The CEO who hires a President and then “goes fishing” or goes off to work on acquisitions without first creating agreements with the President around the 5 steps above, is abdicating. On the other hand, the CEO who sits down with the president and together they decide how they will divide roles and responsibilities and agree on the management reporting the CEO needs to monitor and evaluate, is delegating. Once again the system, in this case a combination of agreements and reporting, is providing the accountability.

So, next time you are wondering if you are micromanaging, instead of abdicating, pause and ask yourself, what systems do I need to put in place so I can delegate instead?

Healthy CEO, Healthy Business

July 24, 2016July 19, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

I recently heard a CEO say, “when I am healthy, my business is healthy”. I have been thinking about this CEO’s statement 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.

Years ago, I worked with a CEO whose company growth had stalled. He brought me in as an advisor to help him get the company back on a growth track. While certainly there were some operational and structural changes needed, what I discovered was holding the company back was the CEO’s lack of engagement. He had suffered a series of injuries that kept him away from work, followed by a serious issue with his son. Once we put the infrastructure in place that he needed to take the company forward AND he got well and found a way to deal with his son’s issues, the company began to prosper. In fact, it was he that I was quoting in the first sentence of this post.

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

So, as we go through our daily lives, what can each of us do to pause, reflect and recognize we have a fiduciary responsibility as leaders to care for our physical and mental well-being?

Perception ≠ Reality

July 10, 2016July 27, 2016 by Elisa SpainNo Comments

This week’s blog post appears on Executive Street Blog. Please click this link to view it.

We often hear the phrase perception is reality. In the physical world, we are told that we cannot perceive reality directly; perception is all we have. “If a tree falls in the woods…..”

As leaders, we transfer this rule into behaviors, i.e. how we perceive a product, becomes what it is. How we perceive a person or a company’s reputation is who they become for us. And, how we are perceived at work, we are told, becomes reality for our peers, subordinates and our bosses.

And yet, perception is often far from reality. Even in the physical world, when we don’t have enough information, e.g. without knowledge of time, darkness can be perceived as night or a storm.

I was reminded of this fact this past weekend. I was at our annual gathering of Vistage chairs, who have led groups for 10 or more years. Vistage chairs, as a group, tend to pay attention to the subtleties; after all, we are trained to do so. One would think, therefore, that this would translate to “knowing” that what we perceive may not be what is. Yet, like most other humans, we miss sometimes.

Here’s one example. On the first day, we did an exercise that was a “fun” icebreaker. Hmm, well, at least it was fun for the extroverts, and, to a person, the introverts found it uncomfortable. For the extroverts it was an energy break; for the introverts it was stepping outside our comfort zone. A good exercise for sure, and yet a very different exercise for us than for the extroverts. In fact, it wasn’t until I checked in with one of my fellow introverts that I understood how misaligned my perceptions were. We were talking later in the weekend and I asked him why it seemed that he didn’t recognize me when we passed each other several times during the first day exercise and he responded, “Wow, I didn’t even see you; I was just trying to get through it.” On that day, my perception was that he wasn’t interested in engaging with me. His reality was that he was so uncomfortable with the exercise that he disengaged completely.

Another way to say this: perception is about us, reality is about the other person.

The learning for me…

Ask a question and seek to understand the reality, beyond our own perceptions, and life will hold some lovely surprises.