With the addition of The Leadership Institute of Indianapolis
(www.leadershipinstituteofindianapolis.com) to our company offerings, I have been drawn lately to blogs (www.punkrockhr.com) and articles (www.mindtools.com) regarding leaders. It’s no accident that many catch phrases have been created about management and leadership.
* Top down leadership
* It starts at the top
* “With great power comes great responsibility” - Spiderman
* Sh** rolls downhill
They are all true. What is amazing to me is that the “leaders” are usually oblivious to how what they say and do affects their teams (and, ultimately, their business).
We work with a lot of CEO’s, presidents and vice presidents, all successful in their own right. However, there are definitely some that stand out among my favorites. Oh yeah, my favorites happen to be running highly successful, growing companies with happy employees. Go figure.
The top 3 things that I think make great leaders
Great leaders celebrate and dissect wins. They don’t beat the losses (or their employees) like a dead horse.
The really great leaders that I know realize that the learning is in the
good stuff. Why spend so much time beating a dead horse? Don’t we want to
duplicate wins? Smart leaders take time to dig into things that go right.
Duplicate it. Celebrate it.
Great leaders value their people—and they aren’t afraid to tell them.
Leaders that I admire really value their people. They would tell you they
have the cream of the crop. They hire people smarter than themselves to
keep them at the top of their game. Here’s the trick: they actually SAY
these things to their employees. That’s crazy isn’t it?!
Great leaders have a plan—they share the vision.
Remarkable leaders have big thoughts. Big plans. Most importantly, they
share their thoughts and plans with their teams. The team understands how
they fit into the puzzle. Great leaders don’t need to figure out how to
motivate their team to accomplish the vision. Great leaders have teams that strive for the vision as much as they do.
Great leadership in a word: transparency—transparency to your thoughts,
feelings, dreams. Transparency is powerful.
In this podcast, we talk about motives and preferences. And we move through some of the Hogan Motives Inventory.
The goal here is to help our listeners understand what drives people to their behavior.
We also promised in this cast a PDF file. Go ahead and download it. Then use it to assess yourself first. Then use it with your people. Feel free to make a copy of it and ask your people to rate themselves.
This comes from the Hogan Assessment that we use in our work coaching executives. There are over 2600 Assessments, so Hogan is one of many. If this podcast helps you decide to engage with an assessment, make sure that it covers the Personal Drivers inventory.
This is a series written to help leaders understand what derails them and their management team. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be highlighting the entire list of eleven derailers from the Hogan Assessment.
Derailer #1: Excitable
John was a VP of Sales for a large manufacturing company in Chicago. He had been with the firm for fifteen years, as it had grown modestly. One thing the CEO noticed over time was John’s inability to keep good people around him.
He would hire a salesperson—a top producer—who would be there for a couple of years and then move on.
John had been asked about this problem but always blamed it on: “These people today just don’t have any loyalty.”
But the CEO knew something different. HR had done an exit interview with the last person that left, and it was quite revealing. The salesperson had revealed John’s true nature. He flew off the handle during sales meetings, he would get angry at prospects right in front of his salespeople and he seemed very hard to please regardless of what order was brought in.
It seemed that John would always emotionally erupt at the very wrong time.
Now that the CEO knew this, he had to take action. He couldn’t afford to have a VP of sales in a position that impacted the company’s growth that was derailed in leading his people. And the CEO knew how much it cost to lose a top talent.
So, do you know a John? Is he in your company? And have you convinced yourself there’s nothing you can do about him?
The Background
People who are excitable will erupt in an emotional display that puzzles those around them. They’ll be perfectly calm one minute and screaming at their counterparts the next. When you look at what causes it, you don’t always see it, because it’s very seldom something that happens externally.
It’s always internal. As we say in our coaching, there are five things that cause people to be derailed: stress, familiarity, tiredness, boredom and flexibility.
In certain circumstances it can be one or more of these causes to be a derailer. Regardless, a derailed leader destroys morale and shuts down people’s creative spirit.
The Real Cost
Those of you who think: “This is just a person with a temper problem,” you’re wrong. This person costs your organization hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars each year they’re allowed to destroy the spirit of their team.
In John’s case, the CEO estimated that the five people John had lost over a five year time span had cost the company $750,000 in profits ($150,000 x 5). This company operated at a five percent net margin, so that was essentially like losing a fifteen million dollar account.
That didn’t include the account value these salespeople took with them when they left. This derailer is extremely expensive, and as you look around your company, watch for these people because they will have a big impact on your firm.
On our sales training side, we teach the concept of “high intent.” It is simple and quite elegant. It means that your intent in any given circumstance will govern your behavior and ultimately, your outcome, in that transaction.
A low intent–where all of your energy is created around ‘how can I win in this?’ - produces low results.
In the NY Times this weekend, there was an article about businesses who are changing course in order to save it. Restaurants who are adding new items to their menu, manufacturers who are changing their lines to make other stuff and services pros who are adding more items to their offerings.
Rarely does this work, UNLESS THERE IS A CHANGE IN INTENT.
If you are making moves in this economy simply to make more money, your constituents (employees and customers) will see thru that quickly. If your “intent” is wrapped up in YOU, and not your customer, then you’ll fail.
I always laugh at the big Conseco acquisition of Greentree finanical. It failed one year after it was hailed as a brilliant move. Why? Because Greentree’s mission was customer oriented (financing for mobile homes). Conseco’s goal when they bought it, was purely about Conseco…about revenue…about profit. It had nothing to do with the customer.
So, as you look at your business, don’t kid yourself into thinking your clients don’t have a sixth sense. They know what you’re doing. I’m not recommending not to change–but make sure you when you do change, your intent is right.
Sometimes leadership can be so bad we are justified in calling it absurd. Such a thing happened to a good friend who accepted a job last year as marketing director for a not-for-profit.
He was doing great work–had actually created two joint ventures with outside companies that will create thousands of dollars for this non profit–AND–give them confidence to pursue other JV’s with other companies.
Then last week, he was called into the Director’s office and told he would probably be laid off in six weeks. And that they were disappointed because this was “supposed to be a self-sustaining position.”
Self sustaining position?
That’s the first time he had ever heard that language. (I don’t work in non-profits, but I had never heard that term either). It’s ‘absurd’ because if the company REALLY wanted him to create a self-funding position, then why wasn’t he told that upfront?
Why wasn’t this called what it was “Pay for peformance” or “commission” or why weren’t “revenue expectations” discussed?
Or was this just an excuse to cut someone?
If you want someone to do their best, why hide the goal from them? It’s part of the old leadership style of mushroom motivation. Mushroom motivation is that leadership mentality that says, “Let’s keep our employees in the dark. That’s when they grow the best.”
Leadership Tip
Don’t keep your people in the dark. (Don’t assume that they really know what’s going on with your firm/department). Tell them exactly where they, personally, are at all times. Give them expectations and discuss them. Tell them where the company is. Tell them where the company is going. Tell them how the company intends to navigate this economy.
Don’t think they’re not thinking about it. They are. You just might not know it.
Was talking last week to a good friend, who leads the Leadership Initiative at a large, really large pharma company. What does she find the #1 problem with graduates from MBA school?
Great at business skills. Lousy at behavioral skills. What does that mean?
It means that our Business Schools are doing a great job of educating grads on the technical competencies of business–but spend no time on how they behave in a way that inspires leadership, allows for innnovation, allows for great relationships. She said, “We need leaders who know how to bring the best out of people. And that takes post graduate training because they aren’t getting it in school.”
Principled Behavior for a Great Cause
We agree with that synopsis. Dov Seidman, the CEO of LRN and author of the book “How,” says, “There is nothing more powerful than inspirational leadership that unleashes principled behavior for a great cause.”
If someone were to assess your leadership skills, is that what they’d say?
This episode deals with the destructive behaviors that might get your leaders (or you) in trouble. Bill Caskey and Terry Sarbinoff spend a few minutes discussing how you know if you have some of these behaviors.
This is Part one of a three-part series on these behaviors.
Plenty of studies indicate “self-awareness” is a key success factor for leaders. I saw this in action last week.
One of our clients is CEO of a medical service company. He’s a strong personality–yet keeps that in check when around his people. He has smart people around him–and he does not want to steamroll them.
What To Do When You Catch Yourself
In this meeting, he had a real problem with a suggestion one of his staff made about a new marketing plan. He vehemently disagreed and told her so in no uncertain terms.
Actually, he crushed her.
But in a surge of self-awareness about what he had just done–blow her and her idea up–he stopped in his tracks and said the following:
“You know Carol, I just said I disagreed with you. That’s not really true. What I should have said is ‘I’m not seeing the value in the proposal you made.’ So can you take me through your thinking so I can understand it better?”
What a great catch!! He caught himself, which is crazy-hard to do. And he repaired the damage.
You might say, “Hell, that’s nothing. I steamroll people all the time.”
Well, maybe you do. And maybe your people don’t mind it. But most human beings want to contribute value–and they like to be respected as they do it.
You, as a leader, must know that your actions and words mean things to your subordinates. And the quicker you can be aware–and catch yourself when you’re ‘out of check’ the more likely you’ll be to bring out the best in your team.
By the way, Carol re-explained her idea and the thinking behind it and he came around a bit. And after they exhanged ideas, they actually came up with something even better than either of them had put forward.
I say “finally” because it seems like he’s wanted to for a couple of years. I watched him say goodbye to Indianapolis (home of The Leadership Institute) and wondered why his lessons of leadership fall on deaf ears.
It would do us all good to hear this guy’s story. To read his book, Quiet Strength. And to study his actions and philosophies.
All the way down to the way he ended it all. His owner (Jim Irsay) and President (Bill Polian) in tears. How many times have you watched a leader leave an organization like that? In business or in sports? Like, … ever?
And if you’ve followed his career, you’ll know that deep down, Tony wasn’t about winning. He was focused on ‘winning the right way.’ And the right way for him was with class, learning lessons and never complaining about things he couldn’t control (officials).
Watch him support local charities. Watch him give credit to his coaches and players. Watch him spend time with his family. Watch him weather the storm of the death of a son. And watch him stand on the retirement stage with two sobbing, grown men.
It’s proof to me that there is a right way to lead. There is a right way to keep your derailing behaviors in check. And there is a right way to “be” in the world. Thanks, Tony Dungy, for giving us all a standard to which to aspire.
We’ve talked in prior posts about “self awareness.” It seems that same competency should be used to look at your own business–unemotionally–as a 3rd party might.
And since the Big 3 Auto business is in the news, I thought we’d use that as a leadership example
If I Were In The Auto Business…
I did not graduate with a Harvard MBA so this might not be worth much to those who did. But as a trainer/consultant in the area of revenue excellence, I would recommend these two changes to sell more cars. (Afterall, that’s their problem).
1. I Would Recognize the Selling System is Broken.
Not sure who said it but it’s worthy of repeating. Changing parts of a broken system still results in a broken system. In the automotive system, the sales process is broken. How many times have you heard someone rave about the car buying process? Seldom. Why don’t the Big 3 see that? Are they that blind? Have they never asked the question in research?
And for those car execs, did they not teach “human nature” at Harvard?
What about your business? Is your selling system a great experience for your customers? If not, why not? Have you spent any time recently with your Exec team talking about ways to improve it? In 2009 spend time on that. One way to do it is model your sales process after companies who have nailed it. Go in to an Apple store sometime. Wait til after the Holidays, because you’ll get pissed coz’ it’s too crowded.
Oh, wait a minute, that’s a good thing. Are there lines outside your proverbial ‘door’ begging you to sell them something? There’s not?
Well, then get to the Apple store immediately and see what’s going on. Take notes. Take pictures. Take notice.
Isn’t it remarkable how little time we spent improving the very thing that can grow our business?
2. I Would Work on Client Retention
2009 will be the year of client retention. Are you investing any resources in the client relationship? Not just talking about taking them to lunch occasionally. The auto business spends $0 on this. Even the premium car companies are lousy at that. I get more attention from my Nordstrom person after buying a $500 suit that I ever have from an American car company after buying a $40,000 car.
This is really broken.
So what about your business? What are you doing on a regular basis to keep and grow clients?
Are you offering special “clients only seminars” where you bring in keynote speakers who offer unbelievable knowledge to your clients?
Are you publishing “how to” guides for your customers to help them grow their business?
Are you assembling your clients for user forums so they can network together?
Are you, the leading Executive calling your top clients and saying ‘we really are glad your a customer?
If not, is it because your team has bought into the worn out belief that you should never show emotion in the client relationship? Or that you’ve never done it this way so why begin now? Or is it you just aren’t curious about how to improve your business?
In our Execuctive Coaching we say, “take of your blinders and look around.” It’s amazing what we can learn when we raise our head above the day-to-day and notice.
And we can learn a lot from the Big 3. Not how to do it….but how NOT to do it. So, open your eyes wide and as you are critical of the Big 3, look closer at your business. Maybe you have the same problems–but you don’t see them because you’re too close to it.
In this podcast, we talk about motives and preferences. And we move through some of the Hogan Motives Inventory.
You might say, “Hell, that’s nothing. I steamroll people all the time.”
Well, Tony Dungy finally retired this week.
