Most organizations large and small have
a certain cadence around staff meetings. Whether they are weekly or some other schedule,
there are routine times when key leaders on the team convene to keep the
business moving forward.
Regardless of the agenda and flow of the
meeting, the personality types (pick your favorite psychology assessment tool) are
on full display in the routine staff meeting. Given typical meeting dynamics,
not all voices on the team are heard and overtime, individuals fall into place
and the routine drives a steady decline in engagement that results in just
hammering through the agenda so everyone can move on to their work outside of the
meeting.
A technique that has been helpful to me and other leaders in driving improved engagement and reinforcing a critical priority in the business is a practice we called Pass the Baton. Basically, at the start of every staff meeting, we would spend 15 minutes or so with everyone taking their turn to describe an experience around a customer that they or someone on their team had with a customer over the last week. Whether it was finance talking about collections, operations on some product/technical issue, customer service, or sales, each person (and each key functional area) had the “baton” to speak with an orientation toward a recent customer experience.
Bringing the customer’s perspective forward
from every function of the business reinforces a few key concepts:
Sets the tone and priority of the meeting around understand the customer’s perspective and how critical that understanding is to building a sustainable business.
Ensures every voice on the team gets some time at the meeting. The extroverts and introverts, the givers and takers, the proud and humble, all get a chance to highlight some key aspect of their experience over the prior week. It is a subtle, but effective way to drive inclusion of different ideas and perspectives.
Forces the first step to improving the communication skills of the team; just simply shut up long enough to let another person speak. Step two (listen) and step three (understanding) will come through effective leaders modeling the way.
Thanks
to innovations in technology, we all have more efficient work process tools to
manage the business today than we ever have had before. Operational dashboards
give leaders timely insights that use to take up a great deal of time at
routine staff meetings. However, even with the advent of great technologies, senior
executives are still responsible to ensure the voice of the customer is heard routinely
and they are intentional about creating an environment that ensures the inclusion
of different ideas and points of view from all team members.
Passing
the baton at routine staff meetings has been a helpful technique to support senior
executives improving their leadership effectiveness.
What if I were to ask you, “What is
the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What would you
say?
Effective leaders spend a great deal
of time building an environment where different points of view are valued, diverse
experiences are leveraged to drive innovation, and different communication
styles are managed effectively to ensure everyone has a voice. It has been proven
time and again that diverse teams drive value creation in the marketplace.
Intentional effort, not just winging it, is what builds effective diverse teams
over time.
Whether it is academic research or our own real-world experience, there is a time-tested truth that value is created by building and cultivating diverse teams. However, there is one common feature that all strong businesses and teams possess. There is one feature where a difference of opinion is not helpful in the long run.
The one common feature that needs to
be valued and nurtured is Teamwork.
People need to see that serving the needs of the team to accomplish the mission
is paramount.
When individuals see a situation in the business that needs attention and have the mindset of “that is not in my job description” or “that is not my department” or “that is someone else’s problem” the business will be on a path toward underperformance or insolvency.
We have all been there when something
came off the rails: An unexpected delay on a project at the worst possible
time, a poorly handled engagement with a customer, or some critical information
that got out ahead of a well-thought out communication plan.
Do individuals run to the problem with
the intent to help or do they run away and let someone else handle it?
In well-functioning teams, teamwork is
the mindset across its members. There is no room for different attitudes around
the commitment to serve the needs of the team.
Below are a few practical examples of how
senior executives and the top talent on their teams build a culture that values
teamwork:
Leaders model the way. They are seen running to the problem to help. They are not making jokes about another department messing up again and creating silos within the organization. They are solution oriented around the challenges throughout the broader organization.
Leaders are intentional about catching people modeling effective teamwork and highlight those examples to energize others. They create an environment that puts teamwork on a pedestal.
Leaders have the courage to have the difficult and direct conversation when teamwork is not being displayed. They are timely and direct in addressing gaps in effective teamwork.
Today’s
senior executives and the top talent on their teams are responsible to model
teamwork and ensure that teamwork is the one common feature among individuals
in their organization. The marketplace is too complex and too fast-paced for
any one individual to have what it takes to drive sustained success. The marketplace
warrants effective teamwork to create value.
What if I were to ask you, “What is
the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What would you
say?
Today’s topic (the final part in the Leading Through Uncertainty series) is
on the Future.
The marketplace will continue to grow
more intense, complex, and uncertain for large and small businesses alike. As builders
of businesses, senior executives and the top talent on their teams will
continue to be challenged with leading through the uncertainty of today’s
fast-paced marketplace.
The reality for anyone building a business
or pursuing a career who thinks it will be smooth sailing for 20 or 30 years is
pure fantasy. It was probably the dream of parents and grandparents that a Post
WWII economy would enable a long and steady career with one great company, but
this is not the reality that today’s business leaders face.
However, despite the ongoing disruption, the future
presents a world of opportunity that was not available to generations in the
past. The world has truly become flat as outlined by Thomas Freidman in his
book, The World is Flat.
Entrepreneurs around the world can start a
business to address any market segment with a simple website, secure crowd-source
funding overnight, and begin the next wave of disruption while others are still
debating the color and font of the next internal corporate slide deck.
Large corporations have more efficient access
to ideas around the world than ever before. Through corporate venture arms,
they can have a seat at the table of the next wave of innovation to help
address the risk of insolvency that we have seen over the last several decades
when large corporations have lost their ability to address a changing
marketplace.
Businesses, both large and small, are
strong enablers to ensure a peaceful and productive coexistence of different
beliefs, cultures, and ways of life around the world. Success in the world of
business is a critical element to supporting the life we all want for our
families and communities. A vibrant global marketplace is an effective antidote
to generational poverty, ignorance, and hate that can plague all nations of the
world. When businesses are interdependent in a thriving global marketplace, we unleash
the best in all of us to create a legacy most cherished by the vast majority of
people in the world.
How do we not just survive but thrive
in this environment?
Innovation is the only safety net as our current business is just a computer algorithm away from extinction.
Leadership is the differentiator to support growth in a challenging marketplace. Regardless of the uncertainty the future may bring, we as leaders still need to lead and motivate our teams to deliver on near term goals and prepare for the future.
Today’s
senior executives and top talent shoulder the responsibility of leading a company
forward into a world of uncertainty. The risk of inaction is a quick path to insolvency.
However, leaders who effectively leverage the principles outlined in this series
of writings will, more times than not, lead their teams to a bright and limitless
future.
What if I were to ask you, “What is
the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What would you
say?
Below are previous topics in the
series Leading Through Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to
speak to a group of executives in San Francisco on this topic and I wanted to
share components of my talk during this series.
Today’s topic (Part VIII of Leading
Through Uncertainty) is on the importance of Resilience.
It would not be a stretch to say that NOTHING
goes according to plan.
The customer experience is not always
exceptional
The product does not always deliver as
advertised…sometimes it does not even show up (and blaming the delivery service
does not help)
Competition arrives overnight from a company
that was not even on the grid yesterday
Unexpected expenses show up at the least desirable
time
Leaders on the team will sometimes act inconsistent
with company principles
Mid-month, mid-quarter resource trade-offs are
often difficult, painful, and need to be made quickly
Investors are not always encouraging and
supportive of the direction of the company
Ok, enough said. When the plan starts
to unravel, uncertainty can show up quickly in the hearts and minds of the
team.
A critical attribute of leaders during
times of uncertainty is resilience. The behaviors of leaders during times of
uncertainty must go beyond the simplicity of some wall chart with the word
Resilience over the top of an image of a mountain climber. There are specific
behaviors that upon retrospection, would be summarized in the term resilience.
Leaders
need to deliver on two important behaviors to set an example of resilience that
is worthy to follow and provides the real-world direction to lead the team to overcome
times of uncertainty:
Commitment to Purpose. The purpose is greater than our pain. Commitment to the purpose of the business (what we do and why does it matter) pulls leaders and teams through the difficult and uncertain time. Reinforcing, through words and actions, a strong commitment to the purpose of the business becomes the rallying cry to strengthen the team’s resolve to continue. (for more on the importance of purpose for the business please refer to Part II)
Discipline to Execute the Small Tasks. Leaders must climb back into the ring and do the small daily tasks to gain some steady footing after getting what feels like the wind knock out of you from an uncertain event. Displaying the discipline and courage by doing the simple tasks like picking up the phone to call investors and customers, and walking the halls to talk with the team, when you know the conversation will be difficult, is a clear behavior that is needed. When events pull the company off the rails, displaying the courage to continue to execute on the needed, routine daily tasks of the business will set the example and build the energy necessary to dissipate anxiety during uncertain times. It will be the daily execution of the small tasks that will prepare the team to deliver on the potential shift in strategy that will return the company to a brighter future.
Just a quick side note: The behaviors to build resilience are no different on the home front for families facing a crisis. The purpose to stay together to build a strong foundation and support future generations is the enabler to overcome difficult events. The completion of small, daily tasks like cleaning the kitchen, paying bills, doing the laundry, and cutting the grass helps to control anxiety and reinforce commitments during times of an uncertain future for the family. (for more information – Pathway)
Today’s
senior executives and top talent are the catalysts to help the company succeed
in the long term. The behaviors they model will make or break the future of the
company. Leading through uncertainty is not easy and it takes a toll on the physical
and emotion health of leaders. The two behaviors outlined above will help solidify
the personal resolve of leaders to remain in the fight and achieve their goals.
What if I were to ask you, “What is
the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What would you
say?
Below are previous topics in the
series Leading Through Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to
speak to a group of executives in San Francisco on this topic and I wanted to
share components of my talk during this series.
Today’s topic (Part VII) is on the
importance of Communication in order to effectively lead through uncertainty.
During times of uncertainty, silence
and the inaccessibility of leaders amplifies anxiety and worry inside the team.
When people don’t see their leaders and don’t hear the reality of the situation
directly from leaders, there is a vacuum created that is filled with thoughts
of the worst, not the best of potential outcomes.
Today’s marketplace continues to
become more challenging and uncertain. History, and our own personal experience,
would tell us that we all have some initial bent toward the negative during difficult
times. Psychology researchers would say it is some evolutionary survival
instinct that kicks in to prepare us for what may be lurking in the dark.
However, practical lessons contained
in Leadership 101 would remind us that leaders who confront the reality of the
situation directly with their teams, display the humility to work together to find
solutions, and set the personal example of continuing to climb into the ring each
day with the grit to overcome will more times than not, rally the team to
achieve the desired outcome.
Here are a few important elements of
effective leadership communication during times of uncertainty.
Full time job: Leaders need to use every opportunity to communicate with the team. One on one meetings, staff meetings, employee briefings, hallways conversations, holiday messages, and start/end of week communications need to reinforce the situation, the plan, and the optimism of achieving the objectives. During these ongoing communications, there is consistency in message, tone, and body language that builds confidence and decreases concern.
Get out of the office: We can accomplish a great deal efficiently over written communications, video announcements, etc. However, during times of uncertainty, leaders need to over-compensate towards face to face communications, get out of the office, travel to meet people and take advantage of every hallway interaction to be visible, approachable, and encouraging that the objectives will be achieved.
Small indications of progress: Nothing builds momentum and confidence like highlighting small steps of progress towards the goals outlined by leaders. Seeing and hearing about milestones being accomplished as stepping stones towards the larger objective is tremendously energizing for teams. In addition, highlighting the behaviors being demonstrated by the team that are consistent with the principles guiding the company can also provide an added boost of energy and confidence to a weary team fighting to overcome.
The personal toll on leaders: Effective communication during times of uncertainty places a heavy burden on leaders. The emotional strength to display confidence and courage when the business may genuinely becoming unraveled is no small task. In addition, what usually follows closely behind stress in the workplace is stress on the home front. The transfer of stress from work to home may build slower but can come on suddenly to add to the emotional toll on a leader. The “Hey, do you have 5 minutes at the end of the day to talk” request soon becomes 60 minutes which results in a late arrival home for dinner or a child’s event. This pattern over time is reminiscent of the quote from Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises. When the main character was asked, “How did you go bankrupt?” Two ways. Gradually, then suddenly.” Leading through uncertainty is not for the weak or faint-hearted.
Many strategic initiatives like
entering a new market, an acquisition, a corporate culture transformation, etc.
often fail because of an insufficient communication plan and/or the lack of
discipline to do the unglamorous work of daily executing on the plan. During
times of uncertainty, leadership communication is a fully integrated part of the
plan, not just an after-thought.
Today’s senior executives and top
talent need to maintain a strong focus on improving their communication
effectiveness. Making major strategic decisions is often the easy part.
Ensuring those decisions are effectively communicated with clarity,
consistency, and progress updates to ensure successful execution is quite often
where leaders fall short.
What if I were to ask you, “What is
the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What would you
say?
Below are previous topics in the series
Leading Through Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to speak to a group
of executives in San Francisco on this topic and I wanted to share components
of my talk during this series.
The next few Weekend
Reflections for Leaders are focused on the topic of Leading
Through Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to speak to a group of
executives in San Francisco on the topic of Leading Through Uncertainty.
There was a tremendous amount of interest in the topic, and I wanted to share
components of my talk over the next several Weekend Reflections for
Leaders.
Today’s topic is on the importance of addressing
the Stakeholder
Paradox as we effectively lead through uncertainty.
We have several groups of stakeholders
that we work with in building a business. Team members, investors, operational partners,
and customers to name just a few. These different stakeholders have a variety
of perspectives on the business, but they have two strikingly similar emotional
frameworks that need to be addressed:
Stakeholders want consistent steady growth, long term plans that last, minimal change, no major disruption on the current workflow, etc. Steady and consistent.
Stakeholders have begrudgingly come to appreciate the reality of today’s marketplace that demands a bit of paranoia about surviving long term. There is a clear need for steady experimentation on new areas for efficiency, new software platforms, aggressive product upgrades to meet rapidly growing demands from customers, address competitive threats quicker than ever before, etc. in order to survive in the market today. Risk taking and change.
We want a steady growth curve for the
business, but we know if we are not aggressively experimenting and taking
risks, we will eventually be “Napstered, Ubered or Amazoned” like so many other
businesses have become over the last few decades.
Addressing this stakeholder paradox (I
want steady and consistent, but I know I need risk taking and change) is
critical for leaders to effectively lead through uncertainty. Below are a few concepts
that have been proven effective in helping leaders address the stakeholder paradox:
No plan survives completely unscathed. Anyone who has finalized an annual operating plan knows that it is just the base case for getting the year rolling. As events occur that demand changes in the plan, leaders need to take the opportunity to clearly explain the intent behind the change, reinforce the adaptability skill-set of the team to handle the change, and affirm the team’s ability to successfully bring about the change. Leaders who take full advantage of leveraging these minor changes will help demonstrate consistency with the core plan while balancing a degree of change and course corrections throughout the year.
Measured risk taking and experimentation. Leaders can demonstrate the forward-thinking of the organization by investing in some areas of risk and experimentation while keeping the steady pace of the core business moving forward. Modest investments in risk and change over time will help minimize the need for massive disruption and change when forced to do it because of a consistent leadership failure to innovate and anticipate change. Leaders should effectively communicate these investments to demonstrate the ability of the team to deliver on core elements of the business while making modest investments over time to stay one step ahead of major changes in the marketplace.
Knowing when to pivot on the core business. One of the most difficult decision points for leaders is in the desire to demonstrate the persistence to stay focused on the current strategy, don’t quit, work harder to drive towards the objective vs. demonstrating the adaptability to listen to the market, realize the current strategy is not optimal, and pivot in a major way in the near term to ensure the company succeeds in the long term. In many cases, leadership teams who are making minor course corrections over time and experimenting in new areas will help to prevent the need for these major pivots on the business, but the reality is, most of us delay minor changes and only bite the bullet of change when forced to do so and we have no other option. History would say that many of these major pivots in overall strategy are not successful, but leaders who can effectively describe the intent for change, quickly position the right players in key roles, and execute with a sense of urgency can best position the company for the future.
As senior executives and the top
talent on their teams look to lead through times of uncertainty, there is a
critical need to effectively address the stakeholder paradox around the
emotional desire for steady and consistent, and the clear need for change and
risk taking.
What if I were to ask you, “What is
the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What would you
say?
The next few Weekend Reflections for Leaders are
focused on the topic of Leading Through
Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to speak to a group of executives
in San Francisco on the topic of Leading
Through Uncertainty. There was a tremendous amount of interest in the
topic, and I wanted to share components of my talk over the next several Weekend Reflections for Leaders.
Today’s topic is on the importance of having various Points of View to make more effective decisions.
As the marketplace continues to grow in complexity and risks emerge from what seems like an unlimited supply of threats to the business, leaders need to ensure they are proactive and intentional about gaining various points of view from their teams to build a sustainable business.
Let’s face the truth
that: (1) We don’t see the world as it is, we see the world through the lens of
who we are based on our experiences, upbringing, and a whole lot more that academic
psychologists fill volumes of books about. (2) We are not all knowing and can’t
see everything around us. (3) The loudest, most confidant sounding voice in the
room (and perhaps a big title or power position) still dominates most decisions
around the table.
These three truths are a recipe for disaster in trying to lead a team through the complexity of today’s hyper-competitive and rapidly changing marketplace. The past few decades have seen some generationally dominant businesses, being led by “great” leaders, be completely dismantled into insolvency for failing to see beyond their narrow lane of past successes.
A leader can best
position the team for sustained success by ensuring multiple points of view are
brought to the decision-making table. Just like a coach on the football field
relies on coaches in the skybox, players on the field, and others along the
sidelines to provide different insights on the field of play, today’s business
leaders need to gather information from a variety of sources.
Here are a few ideas to help senior executives and the top talent on their teams be more proactive in gaining different points of view to prevent a disaster for the business and identify key opportunities for growth during times of uncertainty:
Maintain a dedicated and sustained effort to physically place different perspectives at the decision-making table. Leaders need to work hard to ensure a diverse representation of players are at the table. Diversity of gender, education, experience, cultures, etc. need to be well represented. Also, the viewpoints of customers, external consultants, various futurists in fields relevant to the company add critical views to inform leadership teams. For broad strategic decisions, the various internal functions of marketing, sales, finance, operation, regulatory, legal, etc. need a voice at the table. Teams should be able to SEE the diversity on them.
Create an environment that all points of view are shared and heard by the team. Quite often it is still the “loud and proud” that drives a team point of view in today’s companies…just like it did in middle school. Leaders need to understand the personalities on the team and ensure, for example, the introverts get a chance to pause, think, and share. Leaders can begin by simply passing the baton around the table to ensure individuals are heard and points of view are understood before moving to a decision. Teams should be able to HEAR the diversity on the team.
Provide influential communications and meaningful consequences to ensure different points of view are brought to the decision-making table to create an emotional connection to the importance and value those points of view bring to the team for the long-term. Leaders take every opportunity available such as employee briefings, routine performance updates, staff meetings, and day to day hallway conversations to reinforce the value that different points of view have made in key company decisions. In addition, leaders seek to publicly affirm individuals, groups, or functions that traditionally have been left out of voicing their points of view. Leaders look for opportunities to reinforce the decisions of other leaders who are enabling the acceleration of diverse points of view and they also have the courage to have difficult conversations and determine the consequences for those who are not supportive of enabling various points of view to have a position of influence in the organization. Teams should be able to FEEL the diversity on the team.
As senior executives
and the top talent on their teams look to lead through times of uncertainty, there
is a critical need to ensure various points of view are placed at the decision-making
table to ensure more effective decisions are made for the team.
What if I were to ask
you, “What is the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What
would you say?
The next few Weekend Reflections for Leaders are
focused on the topic of Leading Through
Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to speak to a group of executives
in San Francisco on the topic of Leading
Through Uncertainty. There was a tremendous amount of interest in the
topic, and I wanted to share components of my talk over the next several Weekend Reflections for Leaders.
Today’s topic is on the
importance of having an Operating System.
It is inevitable that as
a business begins to scale from 3 people in a garage to 100s and then 1,000s of
people, the risks of complexity and misalignment can be significant obstacles
to driving sustained growth. As leaders work to scale a business, there becomes
the critical need to develop an effective operating system to scale efficiently
and optimize all aspects of the business.
All the fanfare and
rah-rah we see in movies or read in books about great entrepreneurial ventures
that scaled into multi-billion-dollar businesses were enabled by an operating
system that formed the foundation for growth. Venture capitalists in places like the Silicon
Valley or Cambridge, MA will bring forth the capital to scale a business along
with a proven executive to provide some “adult supervision” to smart, energetic
founders of the next wave of innovation. Most often, that proven executive brings
forth an operating system to enable the business to successfully scale the next
great innovative product.
In my experience of
building and scaling healthcare businesses, we utilized an operational
framework that helped us effectively address the risks of complexity and
misalignment as we scaled for growth. The operating system was built around the
4 A’s of Leadership outlined below.
Alignment
The Principle of Alignment reinforces
the importance of setting strategic direction and the strength gained through a
clear, well-understood purpose that can channel an organization’s energy to deliver
over the long term. The Principle of Alignment reminds leaders to clearly
answer the critical questions that define the organization’s reason for
existing:
What is the Purpose of our organization?
What is the Why that energizes us and makes our
purpose important and relevant to the marketplace?
Who are we serving in the marketplace?
What are the core Values or Principles that
guide our conduct?
Assignment
The Principle of
Assignment reminds us of the importance of serving a purpose larger than ourselves.
We all have a role to play to help a business succeed in delivering on key
milestones along the path to sustainable growth. Once the overall direction of
the organization has been established with the Principle of Alignment, then the
process begins to align business units, teams, and individuals to develop objectives
that support delivering on the strategic direction of the organization.
The building blocks of “who
does what, when it needs to be done, and why it will help us succeed” need to
be integrated to ensure there are people and teams assigned to get the work
done. Assigning tasks to specific teams or individuals addresses the reality
that “if everyone is accountable, then no one is accountable.” Individuals and
teams need to feel the weight of a transparent and specific assigned task.
The Principle of
Assignment is a strong reminder that strategic thinking and direction (the
Principle of Alignment) are great skills, but without competent leadership to
determine critical tasks, build realistic timelines, assign the work, and lead
the work, execution will always falter.
Accountability
The Principle of Accountability
reinforces that we all are personally responsible for completing our tasks and
supporting others to ensure the organization’s milestones are met. Holding
individuals and teams accountable for delivering on objectives is not just for
an annual performance review. The Principle of Accountability should be an ongoing,
continual discussion to ensure:
Consistency and Clarity: The objectives for the team/individuals
and their current performance, need to remain crystal clear to ensure there are
few, if any, major surprises in the business.
Identification of Early Warning Signals: The current
performance (positive or negative) toward stated objectives may be an early
indication of a change in effort by an individual/team or a fundamental shift
in the external environment.
Efficient Course Correction: We are never
perfect in setting objectives. Consistent, transparent discussions on
performance through the Principle of Accountability can well position leaders
to adjust plans and address market changes in real time to take advantage of an
opportunity or prevent a problem from getting worse.
Most leaders and organizations
struggle with the Principle of Accountability. Just the thought of having a difficult
discussion with an underperforming team or individual brings about some degree
of anxiousness and trepidation. Overcoming the initial temptation to retreat
from a difficult conversation is a critical discipline for leaders. The
Principle of Accountability can help support leaders having the necessary difficult
conversation sooner rather than later.
Affirmation
The Principle of
Affirmation enables us to meet the deepest need in each one of us—to know that
we
belong and we matter. Conversations
are the critical connection point for individuals to feel affirmed in who they
are and the role they play. The Principle of Affirmation positions leaders to
view each conversation with team members as an opportunity to show they matter
as individuals and team members, which will create engagement and commitment to
enable the organization to reach its full potential.
Affirming someone’s
worth and unique contributions to the team and/or to us personally as a leader
forms a foundation for trust and transparency, which is essential for long-term
organizational health.
Leaders need to
prioritize time to address the positive contributions of individuals and teams.
In our hypercompetitive marketplace with constant paranoia of disruptive
threats, most leaders jump to the urgency of problems and underperformance, which
over time will create an unhealthy environment where top talent will leave or become
disengaged.
An operating system forms the foundation to link brilliant strategy
with tremendous execution.
As senior executives
and the top talent on their teams work hard to drive sustained growth in a
challenging and often uncertain future, it is critical that they “run” the
business with a disciplined operating system to best position the company to
succeed.
What if I were to ask
you, “What is the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What
would you say?
The next few Weekend Reflections for Leaders are
focused on the topic of Leading Through
Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to speak to a group of executives
in San Francisco on the topic of Leading
Through Uncertainty. There was a tremendous amount of interest in the topic,
and I wanted to share components of my talk over the next several Weekend Reflections for Leaders.
Today’s topic is on the
importance of Guiding Principles.
As we face the reality of
a hyper-competitive marketplace and an uncertain future, the importance of
building a business with a set of universal and timeless guiding principles
becomes essential. When, not if, the tremendous pressure to deliver high growth
results, exceed customer expectations, and keep team members energized and
engaged gets to a breaking point, a set of guiding principles helps leaders and
teams from sliding off the rails.
Guiding principles, or
values, guide individuals and teams in how we should treat each other, our
customers, and fulfill our responsibility to the marketplace and the
communities we impact. Clearly defining the importance of principles like
respect, trustworthiness, teamwork, innovation, quality, and kindness form not
only the foundation, but create the guardrails to build a business that can
effectively handle the inevitable cycles of tremendous success and painful
failure without destroying itself from within.
Guiding principles, along
with behavioral examples that are set by leaders, consistently highlighted through
influential communications and meaningful consequences, begin to build a
culture that is healthy and sustainable for the long term.
We don’t need a PhD in business
ethics to recall the numerous examples in the marketplace of when leaders routinely
made choices that went directly against timeless principles like respect and honesty.
Before we quickly pass judgment on the missteps of others while we sit in some
sterile classroom environment or management training program, we should genuinely
acknowledge a few of the significant pressures that existing in leading a
business in today’s world.
Consistently delivering high growth financial
performance to support numerous high-pressure stakeholders can have a vice grip
like intensity on leaders.
The potential for a personal, life-changing
payout with the successful sale of a business in the world of early-mid stage venture
capital funded businesses can cloud the judgment of leaders.
The marketplace is complex and many times the
stories we read about are written with simple sound bites that never tell the
full story on the magnitude and the complexity leaders were trying to address.
Even with the above examples, leaders
who build teams and a business with a clear set of guiding principles, will
more times than not, establish the guardrails to keep teams moving forward in
an effective direction even in times of incredible uncertainty. Guiding principles
act as a compass when we are leading through the “fog of war” in the marketplace,
when we have just been caught off guard with a competitive threat, or when some
personal behavior of a key leader comes to light or when there is a sudden legal
or regulatory challenge to the operation of the business.
Guiding principles help leaders
maintain their footing and keep teams marching forward to fulfill the purpose
of the business regardless of how uncertain our future looks at this present
moment.
As senior executives and the top talent on their teams work hard to drive growth in a challenging and often uncertain future, it is critical that they set the example by modeling behaviors consistent with timeless and universal principles in ordered to guide teams to deliver on today’s goals and prepare for a brighter future. (the image in this article highlights the guiding principles our team developed at Armune BioScience)
What if I were to ask
you, “What is the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What
would you say?
The next few Weekend Reflections for Leaders are
focused on the topic of Leading Through
Uncertainty. I had the privilege in March to speak to a group of executives
in San Francisco on the topic of Leading
Through Uncertainty. There was a tremendous amount of interest in the topic
by those who attended, and I wanted to share components of my talk over the
next several Weekend Reflections for
Leaders.
In Part I (Reality
Check link) last week, we discussed the importance of facing the reality of today’s
marketplace that continues to grow in complexity, intensity, and uncertainty.
Today’s topic is on the
importance of Purpose.
When describing purpose
in practical terms, it is answering the big question of why do we exist as a
business? What do we do and why does it matter? Sometimes purpose may be described
as the strategic intent or even the mission of the business.
I most recently led an
early stage cancer diagnostics company (Armune BioScience which we sold to
Exact Sciences (EXAS) in Dec 2017) and our purpose was clear, Improve the Detection of Cancer, and it
mattered because detecting cancer early means more lives will be saved.
An inspiring purpose
becomes both a collective rallying cry for the team and a personal calling for
the individuals building the business. An inspiring purpose can be developed
across any industry or endeavor from curing cancer, to providing a warm meal to
someone in need, to educating the next generation, to building safe and affordable
housing, to providing a simple clean room to a weary traveler on the road, and
the list could go on and on. (What do we do and Why
does it matter)
As senior executives and
the top talent on their teams look to lead effectively through the uncertainty
of today’s marketplace, ensuring they develop, decide, and communicate the clarity
of an inspiring purpose is critical to the long-term success of the business. The
clarity of purpose around what we do and why does it matter has numerous benefits.
Here are just a few:
Purpose helps leaders and teams keep an eye on the long-term direction of their efforts. When we can refocus on the long-term direction, we maintain the emotional strength to effectively handle near-term obstacles and moments of uncertainty in the business cycle.
Purpose can have a palpable rallying cry that helps leaders and teams muster the physical strength necessary to get back into the fight when we get knocked down by a sudden event that can literally feel like getting the wind knocked out of us and the business.
Purpose provides leaders and teams focus to channel the energy necessary to succeed in today’s demanding environment. Without a clear purpose, we wander aimlessly during moments of uncertainty in the business cycle and waste a great deal of energy inefficiently.
As senior executives
and the top talent on their teams work hard to drive growth in a challenging and
often uncertain future, it is critical that they lead with the clarity of
purpose for the business in ordered to inspire their teams to deliver on today’s
goals and prepare for a brighter future.
What if I were to ask
you, “What is the most difficult leadership challenge you are facing today?” What
would you say?