There comes a time

Leadership, the art of bringing others together for the achievement of a common goal, is not a popularity contest. As much as most of us want to be well regarded, there will always come a time in which a decision that we make goes against the grain. We will be questioned about the reasonableness of that decision because on its face it does not strike others as making sense. 

You knew that this decision would face opposition before you announced it.  But you also knew that you alone understood the grounds for coming to that conclusion.  As long as you met the moral, legal and ethical benchmarks, you were simply exercising the responsibilities that your function required of you.

Here’s the thing.  People object for several reasons but the primary two are:

·       They don’t like the consequences of the decision on their lives, or

·       It’s just a bad decision.  It is wrong on its’ merits.

During this pandemic, we have seen repeated objections to the decisions being made by governments around the world.  And the objections have invariably fallen into one of these two categories. The pandemic has been worsened in most areas of the world because leaders could not properly advance the merits of their correct decisions; and because so many of the decisions were just bad.

What can we learn from this and apply to our own businesses.  I submit the following:

1.    It is not enough to be right; one must also be seen to be right if there is to be broad acceptance of your decisions.  This boils down to communications.  For example, in countries like New Zealand and Australia, very strict regulations were imposed on the populace.  A vigorous information campaign complemented the restrictions offering the people the hope of a quicker return to ‘normality’ and reduced infections and death. The ‘buy in’ was widely accepted and the results are that the two countries are now in a mutual travel bubble and the expectations of ‘normality’ have been functionally achieved even before wide spread vaccinations are in place.

The lesson for business leaders is simply that the better you communicate the more likely you are to succeed.  The communication strategy must accompany, not follow, a decision that others will find tough to accept. If your messaging does not acknowledge…I mean really give a damn…about the consequences, then you are doomed…as you should be.

2.    The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry! T’is true since plans were made. Despite our best intentions we mess up.  During Covid there have been widespread errors, especially in the Americas and Europe.  Leaders have been too slow and/or unwilling to face the realities of the disease because they are conducting popularity contests, not governing.  Witness the tragedies that are Brazil, the USA and parts of Europe.  The tragedies are twofold.  Failure to follow science and failure to acknowledge mistakes.

 

In your business you have made decisions you regret.  Welcome to reality.  But mistakes won’t fix themselves and left unattended, they only worsen.

Not surprisingly, your best action is the same as above, that is, communicate.  You start with a sincere and personal mea culpa. Forgiveness is a common human response.  This stems from people’s desire for effective leadership.  Unless you are a serial loser, they are looking to you for the answers because history shows that you generally deliver.  When you fail their inclination is to support you in the hope and expectation that you will get it right the next time.

 

It is seldom the case that someone will step forward to challenge your leadership.  The vast majority simply don’t want the responsibility. So regroup, rethink, and then communicate your agenda. 

 

Just don’t go to the well too often!

Two you can do without.

 

 

Historically we have sought out those individuals who have the drive and willingness to take risks.  These high achievers will, we hope, take us to new and higher levels of success. While this may be true some of the time, in my experience there is a greater risk when we mistakenly hire people who fall into one of these two categories.

The first group I call the ‘Icarus Idiots’.  These people are characterized by their willingness to take more and more risks in an effort to achieve that which has never been achieved.  Their reward is the fame and glory of potentially attaining the unattainable.

There are two major problems with this personality. 

1.    They require an inordinate amount of support from others.  Thus they drain limited resources in vain pursuits.

2.    If they do manage to achieve their goal, they seldom share the success with others as they are driven by the need for personal recognition, not team success.  Chemistry is not in their vocabulary and in the long term this attitude will tear apart an otherwise productive group.

Group number two I will call the ‘Lazarus Lunatics’.  People in this group do not recognize risks per se.  Icarus at least knows there may be failure but is willing to chance it.  Lazarus cannot even see the risk.  They tend to move in one direction only and will ignore the advice and input of others.  In their minds it’s ‘…my way or the highway…’

Again there are two major issues.

1.    Lazarus does not care about the costs of failure.  Whereas Icarus knows that the consequences of failure fall primary on him, Lazarus ignores the potential of a broader impact. This attitude is as self- serving as Icarus but comes with more collateral damage.

2.     Icarus learned his lesson the hard way and died, unable to repeat his mistakes.  Lazarus somehow arises from the dead to ‘live’ another day.  He learns nothing and cares not about the aftermath of failure.  Thus he is likely to continue his recklessness until formally checked.

As I mentioned in the opening, we all look for those unique personalities that we hope will deliver the results we are looking to achieve.  However when those individuals cannot operate successfully in a team environment, you will have introduced an element of risk that is seldom rewarded in a manner commensurate with your expectations.

Chemistry and character almost always outweigh competence.  Icarus and Lazarus are remembered in history, but not for what they achieved.

Keep that in mind as you look for the leaders in your scope of responsibility.

'...teach your children well...'

 

Throughout much of our working history one of the key aspects of leadership has been the successful transfer of knowledge.  There were ‘tried and true’ methods to perform specific functions. The best companies were able to refine these methods and ensure that each new generation learned and then further fine-tuned these processes.

We commonly promoted those individuals who best grasped and implemented our ‘ways’.  At the top of the hill was the fount of all knowledge and we deferred to HIS decisions and directions.

But as sure as winter turns to spring, these norms are being turned on their heads.  It started 20-25 years ago as computers became more fundamental to our daily routines.  And as the complexity of business intensified, the process only accelerated.

Leaders were no longer the repository of all knowledge.  In fact, those who held firm to that misconception were now more of a hindrance than a help.  Because they did not have an appreciation of the power that technology offered, they were not able to harness its’ benefits.  Whether as a result of fear or ignorance or both, they failed in their duties.

We used to say that ‘…that train has left the station…”  But trains don’t travel at the light speed of today’s changes.

Let me offer a singular example.  It is representative of what effective leadership looks like in the 21^st century.

When the Covid pandemic started about a year ago, a key to confronting the disease was identifying its spread.  One of the largest political jurisdictions in North America turned to a major consulting firm for answers.  While the CEO of that firm negotiated the terms of the agreement, he was in no position to lead the implementation of a solution.  Instead, it fell to a brilliant twenty something and his team to use technology to analyze the situation and then develop and deliver a solution. 

Dealing in uncharted waters, within weeks a testing program was created and rolled out across a broad geographic territory.  Following expected initial hiccups, the testing soon delivered, and continues to deliver, tens of thousands of results each day. This information allows the medical community to respond to the changing dynamics of this plague and offers some hope to defeating it.

There was nothing in that CEO’s playbook or personal experience that would have allowed him to affect a plan.  He understood that the best…the only…option was to defer to some of the youngest members of his organization because it was there that the union of intelligence and technology resided.  Experience was not critical to the process because there was none to lean on.

You see, knowledge was now being passed up the chain of responsibility, not vice versa.

As a leader, have you empowered your organization with the vitality of technology?  And with the vitality of those who truly understand the impact it can have on your business? 

The best ones have. If you missed the boat…good luck…

Do you have the emPHAsis on the correct syllABle?

 Throughout my career the primary performance measurements have revolved around the sales and profitability of the products and/or services that were being offered.  Whenever we considered an acquisition of a competitor, we focused on the level of additional positive impact that purchase would make to these two components.

Investors typically focus on the ROI and growth potential of targeted companies.  The financial analysis drives the price that the investor is willing to pay or the value of the share price.

Virtually everyone in a role that earns a bonus it tasked with achieving certain financially based objectives.  Stock options for executives are likewise driven by the achievement of these goals.

The reason for the reliance on these types of performance metrics is because they are: a) easy to establish and measure and b) something that is objective, and not subjective.  It becomes a binary discussion.  Either you met/exceeded the goal or you did not. Hence the saying ‘…take care of the nickels and dimes and the dollars take care of themselves…’

I want to propose an alternative PRIMARY focus. Let’s change the emPHAsis to a different syllABle.

First allow me to rephrase our old saying to ‘…take care of the ladies and gents and the results take care of themselves…’

For too long we have neglected to have a ‘people first’ mentality.  The assumption has been that if we have a viable product and a great strategic plan, the rest is simply implementation.  And with a work force to choose from that is in the tens of millions, how difficult is it really to find the needed resources?

But the best companies have recognized that the primary emphasis must be the people it employs.  They have adopted the motto ‘…doing the right thing by the people is doing the right thing for the company…’

These companies have invested as much in culture as they have in research and development.  They value the recruiting, training and retention of the best people on an equal footing with product marketing. They understand that growth flows from within the creativity of the workforce at least as much as the foresight of the CEO.

A quick analysis of the Fortune 500 shows that 60% of the top 50 companies in 2000 no longer occupy that spot.  In fact, several of them no longer exist.  The products and services that they offered are still being successfully sold by others.  Is it possible that the people in the ‘survivors’ are the principal reason for their success?

As we gradually return to ‘normal’ in a post pandemic world, does your culture need a vaccine as well?  Should you look the change the emPHAsis to ensure that your focus is on your people more than the numbers? It may take a leap of faith on your part…

Let me assure you that it can’t hurt and that the change may be far more productive than you assume!

You seldom find what you're NOT looking for!

 

I want to acknowledge Dennis Scott, an old friend and leader in the African-Canadian community for his input to this blog.

 

I spent nearly 75% of my working career working in positions in which I had the responsibility to hire others. My ‘teams’ ranged from a few to a few hundred.  These responsibilities began in the mid 70’s and continued until my retirement some 40 years later.

With the 20/20 lens of hindsight, and with the understanding I have gained since then, I realize that I seldom found what I was NOT looking for.  While I never practiced active discrimination, I confess that I did not practice active inclusion.  Hence, my teams often reflected my own world, that is, they were predominantly white males. 

Looking back I can easily rationalize some of my decisions.  I worked most of my career in the electronic security industry and that industry tended to be somewhat incestuous.  People moved from one company to another and while it was not a closed loop, the trend was towards the status quo.  If you were on the outside, you almost needed an invitation to join the party.

Over time things did change.  Women, people of colour and others from marginalized groups gradually cracked open the implicit, albeit unintentional, barriers to entry and thus made the community more diversified…and a truer representation of society at large.  When I left the formal workforce, my team was almost 50-50 gender split and represented individuals from around the world.  Our pot luck lunches were a culinary delight of smells and tastes that were unimaginable in my early years.

My failures were not errors of commission.  They were errors of omission.  My recruiting failed to deliberately encourage a broader range of candidates to apply. I was never chastised nor challenged for my choices because HR and personnel agencies simply forwarded candidates that fit the profile of the team.

Today’s hiring practices are much more sophisticated than in the past.  But biases still exist.  As the leader it is your responsibility…no it is your DUTY…to ensure that your team reflects the diversity of society.  It is not only a case of good business; it is your moral and ethical response to the privilege of leadership that has been entrusted to you.

May I suggest the following:

1.    Cast a wide net in your search. 

2.    Use conventional and unconventional means to get your hiring message communicated.

3.    Be blind in reviewing resumes. Have references to gender, ethnicity etc. eliminated from the process so that qualifications become the primary determinant for selection.

4.    Recognize and acknowledge your personal biases by objectively evaluating the culture of your team.  It will be a reflection of your comfort with diversity.  Seek independent input if you see a trend in your hiring practices that appear to reveal any bias.

5.    Embrace diversity and change.  There was a time that I thought bell bottom jeans were God’s answer to sartorial splendor, but I got over that too.

If your team reflects the fabric of our society, congratulations.  If it does not, do your personal ‘mea culpa’ and get on with the changes that are necessary. You have been entrusted with a responsibility in which you alone are accountable.

Your Covid Defense

 

 Most organizations have one element upon which everything else is built.  When that element is performing to expectations, everything else seems to fall into place.

For some it’s their sales and marketing expertise.  For others it is their manufacturing excellence.  Some rely on their ability to be innovative in the development and delivery of cutting edge technology. Every company has something upon which they ‘hang their hat’.  What’s yours…?

In these times I wonder how many of you answered ‘…it is our delivery of HR services to our employees…’  If it is not at or near the top of your responses, you are in deep trouble and you don’t even know it!!!

Recently I was in conversation with the CEO of a major North American manufacturer of health and beauty products. She related to me how her role has changed over the past several months in response to the challenges that Covid. 

The delivery of products has obvious hurdles in the supply chain as raw materials delivery experiences disruptions. Sales struggle with some of their retailers experiencing closures or restricted sales hours.  But these issues pale in the face of the personnel matters that are often hidden from plain sight but which exist nonetheless.

Here are some examples she shared.

·       The executive who joined the company pre-Covid but whose family was still living abroad because of travel restrictions. 

·       The line employees who were living with family members in senior assisted living communities that prevented any face to face contact.

·       The middle manager who lost a partner to Covid and was left to raise three children alone.

·       Others who had adult children returning home because jobs were lost or education was being conducted on-line.

These are just some of the experiences that happen behind the curtain but which have tremendous influence of the lives of your employees.  The stress starts to manifest in mental health problems which are so difficult to diagnose unless you are prompted to look for them.

That’s why the companies with a pro-active HR division are the ones that are continuing to excel in these unprecedented times.  They are out front and leading the charge to recognize that leaders must be active life coaches for those in need.

That is not to say that the leaders should be counselors, but they must be trained to recognize signs of trouble.  Their role is to encourage those who are suffering that help exists and that there is no shame in raising their hand to say ‘help me’.

The professionals tell us that the next 4-6 months will be the darkest times of the pandemic.  The light at the end of the tunnel is not the train coming at us any longer.  There is a return to a sense of normality in our foreseeable future.

But we need to ensure that everyone make it of the darkness.  That is YOUR MAJOR RESPONSIBILITY for the next several months.  You may have to take your eye off the P & L for a time, but it will survive as long as your staff members do!

Invest in all things HR for now.  That is your best defense against Covid. And the best offence from your company!

Horses for Courses!

 In the world of thoroughbred horse racing there is an old and time tested axiom.  It says that there are ‘…horses for courses…’ 

There is a wide variety of events in which these horses compete.  Some are sprinters; some are more suited for distances.  Some prefer grass; others perform best on dirt.  Some run well on muddy tracks; some only on dry days.

The point is that the owners and trainers of these animals need to know their horses’ characteristics and abilities if they are to perform at their best and thus provide the greatest likelihood of victory.

In your business it is critical that you have a realistic appreciation of the skills and abilities of those on your team.  It makes no sense trying to get blood from a stone.

Frank McKeown, a consultant and mentor I know put it best this way.

“…it is better to have an average strategy well executed than a great strategy poorly executed…”  Makes sense to me.

Clearly you want to have a great strategy well executed.  But if your team members are not up to the task, you still need to be making an effort to improve, even if that improvement is incremental rather than exponential.

In these instances you obviously have two parallel strategies.  The first is to deliver a strategy that can be implemented with the personnel resources you have.  The second, and coincidental, is to improve the quality of your resources.

Don’t assume that replacing people is the problem.  It may be ; but what is your contribution to their performance? 

Have they been properly trained?

Are they in the correct roles?

Do they have the tools to do the job?

Have you done a good enough job in communicating and motivating them?

Have you created an environment in which people excel?

There are many other factors that can contribute to individuals failing to reach their full potential.  As the leader, that is your responsibility.  The ‘…horses for courses…’ applies as much to you as it does to your team.

Strategy is important…but execution trumps strategy every day.  Take a long, hard look at your horses before you decide where to run them!