GROW GREAT - A Podcast About City Government Leadership

What’s Killing Leadership Growth? Isolation In The C-Suite #4022

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What's Killing Leadership Growth? #4022 - GROW GREAT

Few things are worse than not knowing. Maybe not knowing the truth? Or not seeing things as they really are?

Thoreau said, “It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.” Maybe he was right. He certainly had a point worth thinking about.

Lately I’ve encountered frustrated business owners and CEOs who felt a greater degree of success was ahead of them. They just found themselves struggling to get past their current plateau.

Plateaus aren’t bad. In fact, they’re a necessary part of growth and mastery. But they can be exhausting. Especially when it seems like you’ve been there for too long and you’ve no idea how much longer it’ll last. Funny thing about plateaus…they last however long they last. The key is to push through, persist and use them to make you more tenacious.

It’s hard work though. Snarliness, toughness and all those other words I love so much that indicate how hard we are to compete against — they demand a resilience that only comes from lots of slogging through the plateaus of your career and your company. The greatest business leaders do it. It doesn’t mean they enjoy it all the time, but they use it for their advantage.

Today I’d like to focus on just one element of the plateau that seems especially vicious – the isolation. Business owners and CEOs can be among the most isolated people on the planet. And that’s under normal conditions. Tasked with one decision after another, armed with reams of data and sometimes listening to hours of internal arguments among direct reports — and then add on for good measure all the outside influencers with some agenda or consideration they think is vital to our decision-making — the isolation we can feel is quite crowded and noisy. We’re surrounded by well-meaning people. Why do we often feel isolated?

Because we’re the chief decision maker. And because our decisions have the biggest impact on the company – for good, or bad. That’s the subject of today’s show. Enjoy!

Randy

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YOU Are The Reason People Are Quitting Their Jobs #4021

Leadership, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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It’s not me. It’s YOU.

That’s not what people say when they break up. Or when they quit their job. Well, not often.

Mostly, people aren’t confrontational. They just want to get away with little fuss. So when people quit they’re prone to forego candor. Instead, they may blame quitting on all kinds of things. Some just walk away without warning. Others sneak away quietly due to some family emergency or other contrived excuse. Anything to avoid a show down.

It’s all just as well. Bluntness wouldn’t likely do any good. And it might hamper the future prospects of the quitter. It’s a no win situation – being candid about why you’re really quitting! Besides, the person you’d have to be candid with about it is the culprit himself – the boss. He’s the reason you’re leaving.

Best to leave in the most gracious way possible by saying as little as possible.

YOU Are The Reason People Are Quitting Their Jobs #4021 - GROW GREAT

Almost 8 years ago Jennifer Robison, Senior Editor of The Gallup Business Journal wrote an article entitled, Turning Around Employee Turnover. The article lists the top 5 predictors of employee turnover.

The Top Five Predictors of Turnover

Work units with high potential for turnover send out warning signals, according to Gallup research, but managers and executives must know where to look:

1. The immediate manager. If employees report that their manager’s expectations are unclear; or that their manager provides inadequate equipment, materials, or resources; or that opportunities for progress and development are few and far between, watch out: Trouble is on the way.

2. Poor fit to the job. Another sign of trouble appears when employees perceive that they don’t have opportunities to do what they do best every day.

3. Coworkers not committed to quality. Watch for employees who perceive that their coworkers are not committed to a high standard of work.

4. Pay and benefits. Engaged employees are far more likely to perceive that they are paid appropriately for the work they do (43%), compared to employees who are disengaged (15%) or actively disengaged (13%). And pay and benefits become a big issue if employees feel that their coworkers aren’t committed to quality; they may feel entitled to extra compensation to make up the difference or to make them feel like they are truly valued by their employer.

5. Connection to the organization or to senior management. Another key sign that turnover may be looming appears when employees don’t feel a connection to the organization’s mission or purpose or its leadership.

Source: Gallup research, including meta-analysis, employee opinion polls, and exit interview studies conducted over the past 30 years

Who cares? So what if people come and go in your company?

YOU should care because there’s a big cost to employee turnover. Again, according to the Gallup article…

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that the U.S. voluntary turnover rate is 23.4% annually. It’s generally estimated that replacing an employee costs a business one-half to five times that employee’s annual salary. So, if 25% of a business’ workforce leaves and the average pay is $35,000, it could cost a 100-person firm between $438,000 and $4 million a year to replace employees.

Still don’t think it matters if Joe walks out? Too many bosses don’t care. They think people are plug ‘n play interchangeable parts. Joe leaves. Jim enters. Jim leaves. Josh enters. Josh leaves. Jill enters. Of course, it all started with Abe. Over the course of three decades the organization is fast approaching the end of the alphabet. Then it all starts over again. Hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost dollars and productivity to even a small business. Millions of dollars to a larger enterprise.

If you think VC money often goes down the drain – and it does – then you need to consider the high price of human capital. Millions of people are going down the drain every day in organizations all over the world. It’s not because they’re bad people, or unskilled, or unproductive. It’s because they’re working for a jerk and they just can’t stand it any more.

The High Price Of Employee Turnover

How do you make a boss care? You don’t. Truth is, you can’t make a business owner, a CEO or any other boss care about something. You may be able to persuade them why they should care. You may be able to influence them with compelling data, or an engaging story that just might convince them it’s in their best interest to care. But they have to care about people enough to create a culture that fosters superior human performance. Higher human performance should be the priority of every CEO. Should be, but it’s not.

Lower levels executives – even mid-level bosses – can often behave with greater disdain than the disinterested CEO. Disinterested in making sure people are properly trained, coached, encouraged, rewarded and held accountable. Not caring if people leave and not caring why they leave is the mark of a boss who should not be the boss. They’re destructive to their enterprise. No amount of process management proficiency can outweigh the greater rewards of higher human performance. It’s simple math. One boss can destroy the work of everybody who reports to her. She can’t possibly perform alone at a high enough level to outweigh her damage…even if she’s only got a handful direct reports. The more people she has reporting to her, the greater her damage.

The problem seems complex because of how varied we are as humans. One boss tasked with leading some number of other people is outnumbered. Just like the coach of a professional sports team has one personality, style and philosophy is asked to coach up to dozens of players who are all very different. They’re different from the coach, and from each other. So the challenge is figuring out how to best lead the entire group – the whole team – and to also lead each individual player. Quite frequently professional sports has it more right than business. They fire the coach and keep the talent. We tend to let the talent walk away refusing to consider that the boss is the reason. Pro sports views it from a more economical and practical model. It’s easier to replace the boss than it is to replace major chunks of the team (talent). Businesses don’t tend to see it that way. We often choose to diminish the value of the player because we think that enhances our own worth. We’re wrong. Expensively wrong. Stupidly wrong.

Once upon a time I’d try to evangelize every leader who seemed disinterested in his employees. Over time I made adjustments to that strategy. Mostly because I found it futile. Not always, but mostly.

Emerging leaders – those folks flying at lower altitudes, sometimes early in their management careers – often seemed more open-minded to the logic (and heart) of treating people well. Well doesn’t mean easy. Nor does it mean without confrontation or accountability. It means doing the right thing to help people succeed. It means behaving toward employees so they can become the best versions of themselves. I’d dive into a series of questions aimed at discovering the cost (the overall toll) of employee turnover. Oddly enough, I found lower level leaders could more easily see the business reason to put people first than the chief leader, who most often was steeped in a long-held philosophy of not caring so much. If the person at the top had such a strong personality of not caring, then it was sure to be difficult to convince lower level leaders to hold a contrary philosophy. After all, the chief’s direct reports want to please him. Being like him in philosophy and behavior can be a safe career move.

As much as I believe in a skunkwork (a term made famous by Lockheed Martin), there are severe limitations to grass roots works. Most of us use the term to mean some under the radar, secret endeavor or initiative. Sometimes it may be a bottom up sort of thing. As valuable as those may be, they’re ineffective compared to an initiative fostered by the top dog. When the CEO speaks, everybody listens. Lower level folks can scream and shout and still the boss may not hear it. Or care.

Sadly, nothing trumps voting with your feet. That’s why employees working for a jerk quit. Not all of them, of course. Some are trapped. I’m thinking of all the stories I’ve heard throughout my life of single parents who simply need a job — and lost their self-confidence long ago. They’ve been fooled into thinking they have no other options except to endure the bad boss. They stay. Dwarfing their development with every passing day. De-energized by the environment and their boss. But hey, it’s a paycheck. And that’s what they need most.

When a person quits the bad boss says, “Good riddance!” Without hesitation or concern they quickly move on with the philosophy of Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary – “You’re dead to me.”

That’s exactly why they’re losing people. They just don’t care about others. Self-centeredness prevents them from seeing the value of high human performance. It’s all about them. The quitters have forsaken them, betrayed them and created more work for THEM. They see leadership as a position that deserves to be served – not a position that deserves to serve! A stark difference between being the recipient of service or the purveyor of service. Leadership is a position of service. The higher the position, the more powerful the service rendered.

Today, I focus on working with CEOs and top leaders who understand this – and who see the world as I do. It’s more profitable to pass on the philosophy that organizations are best built by using the highest human performance possible. And by finding ways to continue to elevate it. It’s building an A team, then maintaining a culture committed to superior performance. It’s not easy work, but it’s the most profitable way to go. Nothing will elevate an organization’s performance faster, or more, than leveraging the people who do the work. You don’t have to believe me. In episode 4019 I referenced two leaders who operate multi-BILLION dollar businesses. They see people as their greatest asset. That’s what I’m urging you to do, even if it’s contrary to how you’ve been operating.

As always I just hope to provoke you to think about what you do. And why. Re-examine things. As the boss, you’re constantly asking people to improve. All I’m asking is that you devote yourself to the same thing – your own improvement. Stop letting talent run out the door. It’s preventable. It’s up to YOU to stop it because too often, YOU are the reason for their leaving.

Randy

P.S. Here are some articles from this week to provoke further thought:

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You Can’t Offer A Solution Without Asking Questions #4020

Communication, Getting New Customers, Podcast, Serving Existing Customers Better / By Randy Cantrell

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You Can't Offer A Solution Without Asking Questions #4020 - GROW GREAT

Thousands of salespeople have sat across from me throughout my career. Some were very good. Most weren’t. Not because they lacked ability, but most lacked what I valued most while leading a company – somebody who really wanted to help me grow my business.

Self-interest is what drives far too many salespeople – and others, for that matter. What’s in it for me? That’s our collective battle cry. I’m okay with it provided we help the other person get what might best help them first. Mutual benefit should be the objective.

Countless sales executives have entered my office for the first time ever, armed to the teeth with a bag (sometimes literally) of tricks they claimed would solve my problems. It always fascinated me how a complete stranger who had spent no time with me, or my organization could have such a solution. Or how they could even know what my problems might be. Focused entirely on what was in it for them, they began their pitch with all the reasons why this solution was ideal for me. It was left up to me to decipher whether or not they really did have something I could find valuable.

That’s a bad strategy for problem solving – no matter if you’re selling a solution or not. Well, actually, even people on the executive team are selling a solution. They’re trying to persuade the organization to accept their idea. The value of their solution isn’t enhanced with a “let me tell you why this is good for me” tactic.

Never put the burden on the buyer – whether it’s your boss, a client or somebody else – to figure out if you’ve got something valuable or not. Presenting the value as the buyer would see it isn’t the same as deciding if it’s right for them, or robbing them of the opportunity to decide for themselves. But let’s back up before we even get to the part where you present a solution.

First Things First. Ask. Investigate.

As a young salesman I read and heard sales trainers use a term that never felt quite right to me. Probe.

Probing is what we were taught to do to uncover a customer’s needs, possible objections and anything else that might help us figure out an ideal solution. Not that there’s anything wrong with the term, it just wasn’t a favorite word for me. My natural style was always to simply have an engaging conversation where I asked customers questions. It didn’t take me long to learn that if I could ask the right question, I could find out more about the customer’s desire. That elevated my ability to figure out what I might have to help them. Or it helped me learn I may not have anything that would help them.

I would often imagine somebody who requested an appointment just to find out more about our company, or me before knocking my door down with a “here’s exactly what you need” pitch. It never happened. Periodically (not very often), I’d see some sales executive who I thought might be open to hearing such a message, and I’d run the idea past him. Most were just polite, but only a few – very few – appeared genuinely startled at such a novel approach. Startled to the point where I thought they might actually try it.

These were the day of the one-call-close. Nothing has changed. People today are aiming for the one-call-close. We’re all busy. Our prospects are busy. We think, “We’ve only got one shot.” That’s not true though. And if it is true, then I want to challenge you to do something more valuable with that one shot.

Serve.

You can stand out more by not putting your need to make a sale – that includes you executives who are trying to sell your boss on your idea – at the forefront. Instead, try to gain a clearer understanding of the problem. You can substitute pain, desire, want, need or anything else in the place of the word “problem.” Find the word that best fits your situation.

Every single day I’m talking with CEOs. From very small companies to enormous companies. And I always discover the same thing with any of them willing to talk to me – and most of them are willing. Here’s the simple, but service oriented strategy (which isn’t so much a strategy as it’s simply how I naturally operate):

I spend a few minutes (1-2) telling them why I’m reaching out to them. Don’t play some bait and switch game with your prospects (especially your boss). Be candid. Tell people why you’re wanting to hear their story – why you’d like to ask them questions. It’s not an interrogation. It’s a conversation. Don’t make it a grill session.
I then simply ask them to tell me their story. And I shut up. Most open up quickly – evidence they’re not asked this question nearly often enough. We all care about our story. Most of us wish somebody cared enough to ask us about ours. I do care enough. I’m fascinated by the stories I hear. Most days I hear more than one really compelling story. Amazing what you learn simply by asking.
Then I briefly tell them the truth. Sometimes what I do – or anything I might offer – isn’t a good fit for me. That means it won’t be a good fit for them. Other times, I’m not sure. But it’s not up to me to make the call when I don’t know on my end. If I’m thinking, “This may be something valuable for him, but I’m not sure” — then I’ll tell them that. I don’t try to make the decision for them. They need to make the call.
It leads to more conversation or it doesn’t. Either way, I’m good with that and I’m convinced so are they. We both win regardless of the outcome.

I don’t want to sell. And I don’t think selling or sales is a dirty work. I just don’t want to do what most people think of when they think of selling. They think of talking people into things. Manipulation. That’s not what sales is. It is persuasion and influence – which we all want to incorporate into our communication when we know we’ve got something of value…something that can help others. Mostly, it’s giving people an opportunity to solve their problem (remedy the pain, gain some pleasure, get a solution, etc.).

No Agenda Except To Give Others An Opportunity. And Give Yourself An Opportunity To Serve.

Put first things first. Put your prospect (yes, that means your boss, or perhaps a co-worker, or anybody else you’re trying to serve) first. Listen to them. Better yet, express interest in learning as much as you can about what they think, how they feel and what they want or need. Ask. Listen. Pay attention.

People are searching for solutions. Many are staring into space right this minute, wishing somebody would arrive into their life to help them. What if you could be that person? Why can’t you be that person?

My headline isn’t completely true. You can offer a solution without asking a question. You can offer a solution without even listening to the other person. It will be a terrible experience for you – and the person you’re hoping to sell. But you can keep doing it. And keep enjoying a life of disinterested people. They’re disinterested in your solution because you’re disinterested in them.

You reap what you sow.

Randy.Black

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Lip Service, Customer Service & Employee Happiness (People Determine Your Profits) #4019

Books, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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Lip Service, Customer Service & Employee Happiness (People Determine Your Profits) #4019 - GROW GREAT

In the summer of 1998 one of my all-time favorite sales gurus, Jeffrey Gitomer, published a book that would become my chief “most gifted” book – Customer Satisfaction Is Worthless, Customer Loyalty Is Priceless: How to Make Customers Love You, Keep Them Coming Back and Tell Everyone They Know. I’ve given that book to employees, friends, business owners, CEOs and even people with no real business element in their life. It’s a book about and for fanatics – or those who need to become fanatical about service. I had encountered Gitomer sometime earlier – I don’t remember where – and I was already a fan by the time the Business Journals around the country picked up his column on selling.

Gitomer-Satisfaction Hard to believe a southern boy fell for a guy from Philly, but I did. Gitomer was blunt, candid and delivered his message with a passion I felt was long-overdue. From my earliest days I saw the benefit and long-term value of not being transactional. Customer happiness was always my focus, even as a teenager selling stereo gear. Why would any sales guy or business owner be okay with customers who just felt “okay” about their purchase or their service? Made no sense to me.

What did make sense was Gitomer evangelical passion and candor. Twenty years ago – as now – businesses continued to market how much they cared about their customers. Few walked the walk. That’s still true. It’s common to see salespeople and business people grab the money. And run.

Earlier in the 90’s – years before Gitomer’s book – a couple of authors wrote another book I had fallen in love with – The Customer Comes Second: Put Your People First and Watch ’em Kick Butt by Hal Rosenbluth and Diane McFerrin Peters. At the time it was quite a remarkable message. Love your employees before you love your customers because the employees are the ones serving the customer. Again, I had intuitively believed that and been mostly attracted to companies who behaved that way. It helped that Mr. Rosenbluth ran a high growth company that wound up topping revenues of $6B (that’s BILLION) before selling to American Express. How could a guy like that get it wrong? Well, he didn’t get it wrong. Others do.

This clearly was a time of enlightenment for me as a business guy because somewhere during this time I became aware of a man who appeared to be the epitome of a nice guy, Jim Goodnight. He ran a little enterprise in North Carolina called SAS. Talk about fanaticism. Goodnight was fanatical about making SAS the best place on the planet for employees. The Internet had yet to be born. Silicon Valley startups wouldn’t happen for many years. Goodnight put employees on a pedestal and provided services for them that made other business owners cringe. Even then employers were searching diligently for ways to reduce overhead in the way of employee benefits. Instead, Goodnight was searching for ways to provide more benefits that would enhance the lives of his employees. He fascinated me. And made me want to be more like him albeit on a much smaller scale. Goodnight’s SAS blew past the $3B (that’s BILLION) mark last year.

Why do business owners and CEOs still not get it?

I’ve only reached one conclusion. It’s because most are too short-sighted. Yes, some just don’t see people as valuable as they should. They figured humans are like generic parts, interchangeable. One is as good as another. If you lose one, no big deal. Let’s just plug another in place. But even those who believe people are valuable has set limits on that value. I mean, after all, the benefits packages have to be reduced by 25% this year no matter what. It’s easy to say people matter, but it’s very different to make the investment to prove it.

Even privately held companies are under constant pressure to exceed last month’s numbers. Group think kicks in because we’re all reading Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company and Inc. Innovation. Creativity. Blah, blah, blah. We read about it, give it a few seconds of thought then we go back to the reality that it has little to do with our life and our business. We’ve got to get sales up. And costs down. It’s the ying and yang of business building that mostly lures all of us. Along the way, we can easily forget the impact on our people — and our customers. We grab today’s dollars because we’re unable to see the five dollar bills we might be able to garner next month. A bird in the hand and all that.

It’s understandable. Well, sorta.

I’ve sat with too many CEOs who lamented about an employee’s performance – a key employee – who performed well until a bit more pressure was applied (intentional or not), proving they couldn’t quite hold up. We’re no different. Apply enough pressure on us to grow that top line, or the bottom line…and we’ll be likely to grab the dollar in front of us. I don’t make harsh judgments about leaders who grow short-sighted, even if I don’t always agree with that strategy.

It was in the early 80’s when I first wrote down and began preaching what I called “non-negotiable standards.” I was involved in turning around a company that was just a few years old, but quickly the inventory had grown obsolete, the people disenchanted and the systems non-existent. Two things ruled all my early actions: cleaning up the company (physically) and establishing non-negotiable standards. I wasted no time telling people what that meant – “non-negotiable standards.” It means things you must do or refrain from doing else you’ll put your job at risk. Now before you think, “Man, how heavy handed” — tap the brakes.

It was fair. Candid, but fair. I wanted employees to own their behavior and performance. That hadn’t been happening. People were lackluster, lethargic and apathetic. Many of them didn’t last. I don’t doubt their goodness as people, but the culture had betrayed them. They had grown accustomed to the pathetic environment. Good performance happens at the hands of good performers. Good performers need fostering, training, encouragement and rewards. In short, they need standards to meet.

Quickly I learned that the good performers who survived had long been frustrated by the unfairness of busting their humps while the slackards sat around without accountability. They embraced the changes and soared. I’ve since seen it happened many times.

Talk is cheap.

I’ve not yet met the CEO or business owner who openly admits, “I don’t much care about my people. They’re all replaceable.” Instead, most of us – okay, all of us – give it lip service. Yes, some of us back up that talk, but many of us don’t. Some of us wish we could or would back it up. Others of us don’t much care, we just want to be polite and politically correct. A few of us are bullies who honestly don’t care about people. They’re a necessary evil and they vex our existence as leaders. Those are the folks I call “managers.” They’re not leaders. Honestly, they may not be very good managers (that is, people who oversee systems, processes and operations).

We lead people. We manage the work.

That’s my view. You may not share it. It’s okay. You can be wrong. 😉

I could write volumes of books on the horror stories I’ve heard about bosses who behave badly and who treat people even worse. You could likely be a contributing author. We’ve all got tons of these stories. But the behavior still persists.

I cringe every week because every week I hear multiple stories of bad boss behavior. Yelling, screaming, threatening – they’re just too commonplace in some workplaces. Grown people treated like pre-school children. Workers being humiliated. Supervisors and bosses feeling good about themselves by making sure the staff knows who is in charge. Like medieval fire breathing dragons, they roam the office just waiting for a white knight armed to the teeth to cut their head off. Unfortunately for many employees, no such knight ever arrives. Eventually, human indignities realize their limits, and people quit.

No big loss. Hire somebody else.

How much does it cost to hire or replace an employee in your company?

Most don’t know. They’ve never taken the time to compute the lost time, lost productivity, lost revenue or any other losses associated with a good employee walking (or sprinting) away. Sometimes it’s because the profits and revenues are high enough, it doesn’t much matter. That’s really shallow thinking. A business earning strong double digit net profits doesn’t seem bothered because they’re fat and happy. Unproductive perhaps, but fat and happy none the less. If an owner is banking $1M…it can be a daunting task to show him how a shift in his culture might result in a $1.25M income.

I live in the Land Of What’s Possible. What if?

What if we really embraced finding, training and retaining top talent? What if we pushed our chips into the middle of the table to build in some consistency and longevity among our employees? What if we actually put our employees first – above our customers? How would all that impact the customer experience?

Unfortunately many businesses will never find out. They’ll churn through people never figuring it out. They won’t calculate the cost – human cost or business cost.

Some will go out of business. The odds of failure in business are still staggering.

Others will survive in spite of themselves. They’ll never realize their full potential, but they don’t care. Enough. If they did, they’d find another way.

Books and articles about leadership may help shift a collective culture, but then again there’s Steve Jobs. Tyrants get worshipped. Some buy into the notion that you must be an insufferable maniac to succeed. Rather than try to persuade people otherwise, long ago I just decided to urge people working for such people – or people working in dysfunctional organizations – to find new opportunities. Get gone. Sooner than later. Protect yourself. Guard your heart and your own passion for doing good work. Life is way too short to work for a tyrant.

I wish I could impact the bigger picture, but I’m not naive about my own reach. Instead, I think it best to soar with my strengths as Donald O. Clifton wrote (the father of StrengthsFinder). I’m committed to serving leaders who already know the truth of profit generation and business building. People make THE difference. It’s not lip service. It’s not some better-felt-than-told philosophy. It’s a working culture that daily is willing to be tested to prove itself. Owners and CEOs who refuse to give an inch to behave otherwise. They remain committed to doing the right thing all the time, no matter what.

That kind of leadership resolve is rare, but it exists. Just today I had a nice conversation with a CEO who shared his story with me proving that his talk was anything but cheap. Big customer, little customer. They’re all the same to him – deserving of a great experience. He’s in the real estate game. He’s got a good sized team. Back last summer he recounted how he had to part company with an employee who simply didn’t understand that the CEOs “non-negotiable standards” are indeed NON-NEGOTIABLE. Grabbing the money – even for the firm – violated the principles and culture established by this high integrity CEO. He put his money where his mouth was. He acted, not based on financial gain, but on doing what was right. Why? Because he understands how big he’s going to win over the longer haul.

If business guys who achieved $3B and $6B respectively don’t convince you to value people, then I’m certainly not successful enough (financially) to persuade you.

Randy

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Managing The Energy Of The Workplace #4018

Leadership, On Being Extraordinary, Podcast / By Randy Cantrell

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Managing The Energy Of The Workplace #4018 - GROW GREAT Podcast

If this is your first foray into BulaNetwork.com or the Grow Great podcast – it’s important that you know my world-view and philosophy of leadership. People matter! I don’t mean in some lip-service way. I mean people really do matter. They make all the difference. For good. Or bad.

Let me bullet-point it for you so it’ll be easier and faster:

People mostly want to get up in the morning energized to do good work.
If given the opportunity, most people would prefer to make a positive difference.
People crave a positive sense of accomplishment.
We manage the work. We lead people.
People deserve great leadership.
Great leadership serves the people by always doing the right thing.
Always be honest, be competent, give more and make it right.

Those are the basics of who and what I am. Everything I do reflects these important things. So that’s my bias – if you care to call it that. It’s my perspective and it may help you better understand today’s show, and all the content you can find at GrowGreat.com (which by the way was once branded HigherHumanPerformance.com – I still like that and you can enter that into your browser and arrive at the same place; growing great is very much still focused on helping people in the quest for higher human performance).

The-Energy-Bus-Book Some months ago I began to really focus on my own energy. At first I didn’t use the word, energy. I wasn’t sure how to quantify what I was feeling, but one day that word arrived by way of a book my daughter loaned me, The Energy Bus. I still haven’t read it, but when she handed it to me I instantly had THE word to attach to what I was feeling and thinking. Energy.

Our Work Hinges On How Well We Manage Our Energy

By “work” I mean our performance. I don’t mean just movement, or action. I mean getting things done that move our enterprises forward.

Let’s back up to that first bullet-point – People mostly want to get up in the morning energized to do good work. That’s important because this is where so many companies get it wrong.

If people – this includes US – want to get up in the morning energized to do good work, then they have to fully understand how their work fits. They have to know and understand that their work matters. They have to see their work in the context of the bigger picture. In short, they must see the value of their work.

Motivation is the energy we each bring with us to do the work. Inspiration is what leaders (or others) can supply to encourage us. Both can flag and waver if we’re not careful. Of the two, motivation is the longer-term value. You know this every time to attend a seminar or conference that you find valuable. You get jacked up and excited sitting in that hotel ballroom listening to this keynote speaker. Then Tuesday morning happens and that inspiration is gone. Poof. Vanished. And it was just 2 days ago you felt like you could conquer the world. Such is the nature of inspiration, even world-class inspiration.

Motivation on the other hand is driven by many things. Among them the reasons you’re doing what you’re doing. You’re supporting your family. You’ve got other things that matter to you – things that drive you work hard, and well. Mostly, those don’t vanish. Poor health or some calamity in life can create a hiccup, making your motivation (energy) waver, but hopefully you battle back. Everybody faces challenges. How well we navigate those challenges determines how successful we are – and how valued we are at work.

It’s all about energy management. I used the pronoun “we” – our work hinges on how well WE manage our energy – because too many people want to surrender ownership. Some are even deluded to think other people do indeed possess control of their energy. Nobody holds the key to your energy except YOU. You’re driving your own energy bus. If you refuse to drive, then that’s on you.

Leaders Impact Energy

For starters, leaders have the task of incorporating people into the enterprise. That means onboarding new people. Onboarding is that official HR term. I don’t like it, but it helps you know what I mean. I hate it because it’s too impersonal. And maybe it sounds too close to waterboarding. 😉

Simply put, it’s the task of making people feel at home in a new company or a new role. It’s supplying people with the information and resources they need in order to soar. Leadership must make sure people clearly see and understand how their work impacts the overall success of the enterprise. Equally important, they must understand what success looks like. How will their performance be judged? How will they know if they’re succeeding or not? That’s the job of leadership to make sure all those answers are promptly provided BEFORE the person begins the actual work.

I know, lots of us fail right there. Well, today’s the day to stop failing at this critical beginning. If you’ve got people on your roster who were never properly integrated into their role, then go back and get that done today. Sit down with them and apologizing for failing them. You can’t neglect doing this work. Assume that time will fix it, and you’ll be making an enormous mistake. The only thing time will bring you is entropy and slippage. Things will surely grow worse, not better. It’s the leader’s job to intervene and stop entropy. You do that by being proactive and making sure people have all they need so they can achieve success.

If leaders don’t do that, then I don’t know why leaders are even needed? Serving the people is THE reason for leaders to even exist. It’s not about being large and in charge. It’s about being in a position to do things necessary to get the crap out of the way so people can do the best work possible. Authority of leadership enables those roadblocks and speed bumps to be removed. Get busy removing the first one – a lack of understanding about why the person is even in the company and why their work (their performance) matters. Make sure every single person in your organization – from the highest on the food chain to the lowest – sees how their work impacts the whole. Don’t end your meeting with the employee until it’s clear they see how they matter, and how they fit. And remember to make sure they know how to tell if they’re succeeding or not.

Sometimes people are succeeding, but they feel like they’re failing. That’s leadership’s responsibility (and fault). It’s a morale killer. Few things will disrupt your workforce more than people who don’t see the importance of their role, their contribution — and people who just never seem to know if they’re doing well, or poorly. Give them clear vision.

Candor.

It’s one of my all-time favorite leadership words. Some people mistake it for embracing conflict. That’s narrow-minded. Candor is honesty. It’s not unkind, or brutal. It’s not conflict oriented. Mostly, it’s prompt, candid conversation designed to help clarify, inform, instruct, correct — and perform other positive communication outcomes. Let me illustrate.

True story. A worker with a disgruntled, toxic attitude and communication is already on a PIP (performance improvement plan). She’s been reprimanded and her poor behavior has been clearly outlined along with recommendations on the actions she can take to turn things around. It’s about 20 days into the plan she leaves the office at quitting time. Earlier in the day the staff was informed of a scheduled inventory, planned in 3 weeks. Plenty of time for people to make adjustments to their personal schedules. It’s going to require team members to work an additional 2 to 4 hours, depending on their department and role. These are ordinary, regular affairs that everybody understands are just part of the company’s operations. Our PIP employee lobs a verbal grenade on her way out the door, “It’s ridiculous to drop that on us today.” As she’s existing the door, the boss hears it. She’s still in the doorway when he firmly, but politely says, “Gayle (no, that’s not her name), can I have a quick moment, please?”

Gayle joins the boss as they walk together back to his office. You’re seeing candor in action. It’s prompt. He’s not going to let her leave the building without addressing this action.

Keep in mind, Gayle is already on a PIP. Her job is at risk. Her behavior have impacted others in her office. Negatively. The PIP was designed to help her turn things around because her work – technically speaking – it good. She knows her job and does it well. However, she’s an ongoing distraction to the rest of the team and her constant complaining creates a tension that negatively impacts the whole group. She’s been told that and part of the PIP involves ongoing help, support and feedback. Sadly, for the boss, he’s discouraged now because for the past 20 days or so she’s done better. He’s told her so and he’s encouraged her to keep it up. Now, he’s feeling like she’s taking a major step backwards.

He asks her to sit down at the conference table in his office, where he joins her. “I don’t want to keep you long, Gayle, but I heard your remark and I can’t ignore it,” he begins. “Gayle, do you fully understand – I mean, really understand – how your work impacts our organization?”

“Yes, sir, I think so,” she says. “And I’m sorry for spouting off about the inventory schedule.”

“Gayle, I want to make sure I’m serving you well by helping you every way I can,” he continues. “Part of that is making sure you see the big picture and where you fit in it.”

“I think I do, sir. We’ve talked about that in the past, ” says Gayle.

“Then help me understand why you felt compelled to make that remark as you exited the building?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I just don’t like doing inventory,” she replied.

On and on it goes for another 5 minutes or so. The boss tells her that he’s not going to tolerate her poor behavior because it’s not profitable for her, or anybody else on the team. He encourages her by telling her that she’s capable of doing high performing work. And because others look to her, she’s got a responsibility to lead, too. He’s firm, fair and kind. She’s appropriately ashamed and apologizes. She also assures him she’s going to work harder on curbing her bad habits. He makes sure she knows her future is in her own hands. From start to finish, it took about 8 minutes.

Did it involves a bit of conflict? Sure. Was it prompt? Absolutely. Real time feedback is the trademark of true candor. Was it appropriate and respectful? Yes. There’s no other way it should roll. Did it have the impact? It seemed to, but time will tell. The leader isn’t fully in charge of the response. Gayle is. It’s now up to her to do better work.

Leaders often ignore and avoid candor. Or they behave badly themselves. The boss could have yelled and screamed. He could have belittled Gayle. He could have ripped her up one side, down the other and felt better about himself. But none of those things would have served Gayle, or the company. They would have all been selfish acts. And they would have all robbed Gayle of energy while maybe giving the boss more. But that’s poor energy management. And bad leadership.

So What Can Leaders Do To Positively Impact Energy?

Begin at the beginning. When employees join the company, or assume a new role, spend time “onboarding” them. Scrutinize your onboarding process. Make it spectacular. Do not skip this step. Don’t get it wrong. It’s the foundation of everything else. Make sure the employee understands how valuable their work is, and how important it is to the overall organization. The object is to: a) make the employee feel and know they’re valued, b) make sure they understand they’ve got all the resources and help to be high performers, c) insure they understand what success looks like and d) make sure they know how they and their work fit the rest of the big puzzle that is the company. If you fail at any one of those, then go back and re-engineer your onboarding process.
All acts of management and leadership must be congruent with the beginning. You’re going to have to commit to remaining true to all those onboarding messages. Remember, we manage the work. We lead the people. While the example with Gayle demonstrates the negative impact of a poor attitude, it’s difficult (if not impossible) to serve a person with a poor attitude. And it’s made worse when the person is like Gayle – they’re doing good work themselves. The boss put her on a PIP not because of the quality of her work, but because of the negative impact she was having on others within her team. Two exit interviews with previous employees had revealed Gayle was a major factor in their leaving. She constantly complained and griped about perceived injustices done to her. The leadership had specific, distinct issues that needed to be addressed with her. It wasn’t an opinion-based PIP. That wouldn’t have worked. The only way for management and leadership to be congruent with the beginning is to make sure feedback is objective, quantifiable and susceptible to specific recommendations for correction, or improvement.
Work is done by people. Always treat people with respect. Firm doesn’t mean unkind. Or heavy-handed. Great leaders calculate the most appropriate response to good and poor performance. The goal is to always improve. Growth is the objective. Keep the objectives in mind. It’s never about YOU. It’s not about you showing off your authority. You must make it about serving the employee to do better work.
Listen. Pay attention. Don’t jump to conclusions. Few things will more quickly improve your leadership than shutting your mouth and opening your eyes and ears. Watch any episode of Undercover Boss and you’ll quickly see it in action. I’m always fascinated at a CEO or other C-level officer who goes undercover. They’re not doing any high tech surveillance or hardcore data crunching. They’re out among the troops. Working side by side, watching, listening and paying attention. No spreadsheets. No analysis, other than the human kind that involves listening, watching and talking. Human connections result in learning where the warts are. Sometimes those warts are years and years old. They were visible the whole time. The CEO was just too distracted, too focused on things that didn’t matter to notice. Now, she sees them. Back to the C-suite to make the changes that should have been made long ago — if only she had known. Gather information. Get it from the lowest level possible. Keep your eyes open. And listen. Refrain from making judgments until you’ve got sufficient evidence upon which to base a good (wise) decision.
Be reactive. Everybody tells you how urgent it is for you to be proactive. Forget that. It’s way more important for you to be reactive. Faster! Don’t waste your time trying to be proactive. Instead, get faster – way faster – about reacting to the market and the performance of your people. Adjust quicker than you ever have before. Make speed your competitive edge. And I don’t mean knee-jerk. I mean thoughtful, but intentional. You can get fast and still be thoughtful and intentional. You do it at home all the time. Your husband or wife gets upset and you react. You work through it. Or, you stew about it. Stewing doesn’t work at home, or work. Act. Today. Now. Base it on the best evidence you can gather. Start taking more shots than you’ve ever taken before. It doesn’t mean you don’t take aim. Do that, too.

I’m sure there are other things you can add to create your own list. Do it. Figure it out. Embrace the people who make you look good. Serve them. Well.

Maybe you’ll find some inspiration in my personal business philosophy. You can apply it to management and leadership.

Always

Now, go to work. Today. Right now. Put some high energy into your workplace! And into your own life, too.

Randy

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Overcoming Loneliness In The C-Suite #4017

Leadership / By Randy Cantrell

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Overcoming Loneliness In The C-Suite #4017 GROW GREAT Podcast

Late one night he sits in his office staring out of his 6th floor window. Only the cleaning crews remain. And the security guard posted at the desk downstairs. Plus all the thoughts and concerns that accompany the CEO peering out into the night sky and the surrounding buildings.

Three years into the job he figured himself bright enough to have figured it out by now. After all, he’s successfully navigated most every water he’s stepped into. Usually with moderate ease. But this is different. At this height the air is thinner along with the company. To be fair, he’s surrounded by many more people than ever before. Sometimes nothing is so lonely as a crowd.

When he was the VP of Marketing he had peers. Six of them were the inner circle of leadership. He could always walk down the hall to his close friend, the VP of Engineering. They operated in very different worlds, but were always united in their quest to propel the business forward, along with their own climb up the mountain. Tonight, he’s thinking of that friendship and how at an hour like this, they’d likely be sharing coffee, perhaps something stronger. That was then. This is now. Now he’s alone.

Tonight’s anxiety is driven by a recent lawsuit over alleged patent-infringement. The legal team has assured him it more nuisance then substance, but they’ve also warned it could be a prolonged battle. The expense is one consideration, but not the primary one. Instead, it’s the lost years of development and the potential market losses of a new product that has been the focal point of all product development in the last 30 months.

There are risks of hitting the pause button on the project. What if the suit drags on? What if they lose? What if they don’t?

All the same questions arise when considering the risk of moving forward. It could well be throwing more money down a dry hole.

And there are the sales and profit projections hinging on the project.

No one to be mad at. He’s reviewed things with engineering, product design and the legal team. Consensus is the lawsuit is ill-founded by a company with a history of patent troll behavior. No matter, it must be fought and given serious consideration.

Tonight he’s giving it the umpteenth hour of worry. In 2 days he’s going to assemble the team again – for yet another meeting (he’s forgotten how many they’ve had) – and they want to know what he’d have them do. On his desk are three bound proposals, one from each department (engineering, finance and legal). Smart people, all of them. But none of them bear the responsibility on him tonight. To make the decision.

To Whom Shall We Go?

In the gospel of John, chapter 6, the apostle Peter answered the Lord’s question, “Will you too go away?” — and Peter answered, “To whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life.” (John 6:67-69)

Many times leaders find themselves asking the question, but unlike Peter — it’s because we have no place to go, and no one to whom we can go. Too often the answer is, “Nobody.” There’s nobody to whom we can go. We simply must go it alone because the burden of such decisions belongs to us.

Friends. Family. Team members. Outside advisors. Books. Journals. Buddies. Like most in the C-suite he sometimes stretches the boundaries of input hoping for an epiphany. It’s less about helpful input, feedback or advice and more about hoping for a spark of enlightenment. No, it hardly ever happens, but it can make him feel like he’s giving it all he’s got.

It’s about 9:45pm. He smiles. Just slightly. He hears the voice of his grandmother saying, “Be careful what you wish for.” From before he entered an MBA program he had his eye on the top rung of the ladder. That’s what drove him to get his MBA. Here he is barely 36 months in and he’s afraid. It’s a longer fall from this height. With more on the line – for himself and for the company. He needs to go home. His wife knew he’d be especially late tonight. She also knows why. She’s at home wrestling her own mind gnomes because she knows she’s not equipped to help him professionally. And sometimes – too frequently for her liking – she’s not allowed to help him much personally during these kinds of things because he grows increasingly quiet. Preoccupation with work has wrecked more time off than she can remember. It’s the price the whole family must pay. Be careful what you wish for.

He logs off the computer at 9:57pm. Locks down his desk, puts the three proposals in his backpack along with his MacBook and heads out the door. On the way to the elevator he calls home. “I’m heading home. Can I pick up anything?” he asks his wife. “No, I’ll snack on something when I get home,” he tells her. She’ll be awake, waiting for him when he arrives. It’s what she does. His anxiety spreads.

This scene and millions like it are repeated daily all over the world. The size of the company doesn’t matter. Just add another zero. Maybe 3 or 4. Plug in a comma here or there. The scale of the problem may grow as the dollars involved do, but problems are problems whether you’re running a $2M enterprise or a $200M or a $2B. Anxiety doesn’t compute like calculators on our iPhone. The business owner who is barely scraping by earning $37K a year can’t be judged on having lower worries simply because he’s not running a multi-million dollar corporation. Leaders at every level know loneliness.

Endurance Isn’t The Same As Overcoming

We grind it out. That’s what all successful people do. Some challenges must be endured because they can’t be overcome. Or maybe they have to be endured until they can be overcome.

Real pain is failing to overcome an issue that otherwise could be overcome. Sometimes there are answers to help us, but we can’t find them inside ourselves. We’re often lonelier than we need to be because we’re stuck alone with ourselves. There’s nobody to help us. Nobody to help us sort it out. Figure it out. And the pressure mounts in our mind to do this heavy lifting alone. We’re the leader and it’s up to us to find a way.

Yet none of us are judged or rewarded on our loneliness in getting it done. Rather, we’re judged on getting it done. Our careers. Our lives. Our employees. Our family. Nobody cares how we find the solution. Just find a solution. We confuse outcome with methodology and in the process we vex ourselves more and more.

There are solutions. Quite a few of them actually. My work focuses on growing business and leaders: getting new customers, serving existing customers better and not going crazy in the process. It’s not about social networking. It’s not about passing out business cards. It’s not about motivational speeches. It’s not about therapy.

It’s about improvement and growth.

It is inspirational.

It’s also therapeutic.

But it’s hardcore business building and growing as CEOs. It’s the premise of all my work – coaching or consulting. Growing leaders grow enterprises.

It’s still about people doing the best work of their lives. That doesn’t happen when we’re alone. It happens when we open ourselves up to the possibilities made available by people committed to helping us purely because they know we’re there to help them. No other agenda.

That’s how you overcome the loneliness inherent in the C-suite.

Randy

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To subscribe, please use the links below:

If you have a chance, please leave me an honest rating and review on iTunes by clicking Review on iTunes. It’ll help the show rank better in iTunes.

Thank you!

Overcoming Loneliness In The C-Suite #4017 Read More »