The Survival Benefits of Social Coordination”

I recently read an article, An Evolutionary View-What Followers Want from Their Leaders, that explains the three characteristics dating back to the ancient tribes that every follower needs from their leader.

Roughly two million years ago, the hunter-gather living style did not have formal leadership roles.  With tribal-warfare being the major cause of death during the Old Stone Age, tribes needed to establish leadership to survive and that’s where social coordination was formed.

“Social coordination is best facilitated by a decision-making process in which one individual initiates a plan and others agree to pursue it…In this way, leadership evolved as a resource for group success and survival”

The following explains the three core qualities that every tribe follower needed from their leader:

1. Choosing when and where to move
2. Peacemaking within the group
3. Defending against rival groups

Leadership still continues to shape around the core values (along with many others) that will create inspiring leaders:

1. Direction: When your followers aren’t sure what path they should go down
2. Peacemaking: When your followers are having issues with other individuals in the group
3. Protection: When your followers are threatened by competition or even bad luck

The article was fascinating because it illustrates that for the past 2.5 million years the needs of followers have not changed.

With these three basic needs in mind, the authors want you to reflect on your leadership values and ask yourself one question: Why would anyone follow me?”

For more information on An Evolutionary View-What Followers Want from Their Leaders: http://www.hoganassessments.com/sites/default/files/What%20Followers%20Want.doc.pdf

I recently spoke with a prospect (CEO) on the phone who was complaining about the lack of engagement with his Senior VP’s/Sales Managers. He said he had seven of them, but only one was really performing sufficiently.

That means 85% of his management team are losing. I asked him what he had done about it, and aside from “calling them on the carpet” or “writing them up,” he had done nothing. He said that even though they weren’t performing, he didn’t want to lose them to a competitor.

When will we learn to begin expecting bigger things from people?

Since when do we assume that people intend to behave improperly and get mediocre results? Do we really think that’s their hidden purpose, is to be average? Of course we don’t.

The problem is that people just don’t know how to be superior—how to excel—how to be successful—how to take their game up five levels.

The game is changing, and the skills have to change, too. When my CEO/prospect friend said that he didn’t want to let them go, I challenged him (and probably caused him never to call me back again) to determine what skills his people needed—to bring in experts to teach them those skills.

Here are the five skills I think business development/VPs need to have:

1. Marketing and Lead Generation – Why should these people not be experts at this? Do they listen to teleseminars on the topic; do they go to conferences on the topic; do they read books on the topic; do they watch videos on the topic? When’s the last time you saw a marketing book circulating around the office, with ideas in it marked up, scratched up, dog-eared, highlighted? Ever?

2. Writing – Since when are cohesive thoughts on paper not important? Do your VPs of sales know how to write a compelling sales letter; do they know how to write copy for the web; do they know how to write the intro to an audio piece that might generate thousands of leads for your company?

Or are they content to outsource that to some ad agency who has no soul for the product and doesn’t care about your product and sales, anyway?

3. Strategic Alliances – The VP’s in your organization should understand strategic alliances. Do they take courses in it; do they ask best practices of other people in your company or other firms in your industry; do they have a plan for strategic alliances, or do they do what most companies do—let it come to them?

4. Pain Finding Skills – Are your VPs really good at selling? Do they really understand a problem orientation to professional sales? Or are they merely chasing a number for quota and putting pressure on the salespeople to “get the job done; time’s running out”?

You (or your VP of sales) had better be your best salesperson, or he probably can’t coach his people to do the same.

5. Inspirational Leaders – Do your people go to school to learn to be inspirational leaders; do they read books on the topic; do they study great inspirational leaders like Churchill, Roosevelt and some of the amazing generals in the civil war?

Is there a continuous conversation on how to be more inspirational to your team? If not, why not? Do we detest that conversation because it reveals flaws in the ointment, or do we just not think it’s that important?

Do we think that “we hire seasoned veterans; it’s up to them to be inspired and get out of bed in the morning”? Good luck with that attitude.

If your people aren’t engaged (or are failing), it’s your problem.

I also submit that if you think coaching is for weaklings and losers, then you’re about ready to get your lunch eaten by organizations that see their human capital as THE differential advantage in their market.

Don’t settle for little when the world is abundant and aiming big is a necessity for you.

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.

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.

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.

A true collaboration.