Archive for the 'Management' Category

To determine whether your team is green and growing or ripe and rotting, evaluate each team member per the following four Ripeness Ratings:

• High on ability and high on motivation – top performers
• High on ability and low on motivation – good to average performers
• Low on ability and high on motivation – good to average performers
• Low on ability and low on motivation – poor performers

Is your team green and growing or ripe and rotting?

I want to warn readers that this article can, and hopefully will be, hazardous to the health of managers. It was written with the intention to both offend and challenge those who treat people as human cattle. I was inspired to write this article after speaking with two friends, one a mid-level employee and the other a senior executive with a company that was recently acquired by a corporate giant. Both calls were depressing, as these loyal and capable people were totally disengaged because their companies were so focused on the bottom line and, in their opinions, no longer cared about them. Worst yet, both of these individuals were considering leaving their organizations because of a genuine feeling that their respective companies no longer valued people.

These are just more examples of the hundreds of people that I meet - from entry level to executive level - who are disengaged at work. This brings up a good question. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? This question is the title of Lee Iacocca’s new book, which I highly recommend for those searching for answers to our nation’s problems. It’s an open and candid conversation about the number one problem facing America: the lack of leadership at all levels - business, home, church, school, and government - of our society. It’s a sobering book, written with conviction and passion about the destructive forces of greed and envy.

Winning organizations leverage human capital, as they understand that intellectual capital is the only advantage they have in today’s highly competitive global marketplace. Ron Baker, a consultant to the service industry, states that, “you can’t measure or manage that which is most important.” “That” is people, the intellectual capital that is the lifeblood of an organization’s future. I wanted to share the following from his enlightening book, Measure What Matters Most to Customers:

I do not intend to dwell on the debate over the word “manager” versus “leader,” but in the specific context of knowledge work it is interesting to ponder where “manager” comes from:

“Manager is derived from the old Italian and French words maneggio and man`ege, meaning the training, handling, and riding of a horse. It is strange to think that the whole spirit of management is derived from the image of getting on the back of a beast, digging your knees in, and heading it in a certain direction. The word manager conjures images of domination, command, and ultimate control, and the taming of a potentially wild energy. It also implies a basic unwillingness on the part of the people to be managed, a force to be corralled and reined in. All appropriate things if you wish to ride a horse, but most people don’t respond very passionately or very creatively to being ridden, and the words giddy up there only go so far in creating the kind of responsive participation we now look for. Sometime over the next fifty years or so, the word manager will disappear from our understanding of leadership, and thankfully so. Another word will emerge, more alive with possibility, more helpful, hopefully not decided upon by a committee, which will describe the new role of leadership now emerging. An image of leadership that embraces the attentive, open-minded, conversationally based, people-minded person who has not given up on her intellect and can still act quickly when needed.” (Excerpts from Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity by David Whyte)

Following are the “takeaways” from this article:

• Manage yourself and lead others.
• Build a team around the values of trust, open and honest communication, respect, and performance accountability.
• Hire the best and get out of the way!

Another point to ponder:

If you think you’re leading and no one’s following, you’re just taking a walk!

The quality of performance in any organization is a direct reflection of the quality of leadership. The quality of morale, loyalty, retention, relationships, and business performance is directly related to how individual team members respond to the following questions:

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being “I very much agree” and 1 being “I very much disagree”, respond honestly to the following questions:

1. I am treated with dignity and respect _____.
2. I trust management _____.
3. My opinions are both solicited and valued _____.
4. There is equity in accountability (excellence expected from all/no double standards) _____.
5. I feel appreciated _____.
6. My immediate supervisor is an effective leader _____.

Team Average _____

Performance Potential (team average times 10) _____ %

Do you pass the test?

One closing thought – If your tenure as a leader were determined by a vote, would you be reelected?

And remember, it’s all about the relationship.

In 1965, sales exceeded those of McDonalds, Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken combined. Once numbering more than 1,000 locations, the number has dwindled to a mere four.

What went wrong at Howard Johnson’s restaurants?

“For a long time, customers and service were key issues. By the mid-seventies, they had a lot of stockholders to please. The big emphasis was on increased quarterly earnings. They began squeezing the payroll, squeezing the customer. All of a sudden, we were not to serve water unless requested and not to use place mats. You’d be crazy to open a Howard Johnson’s today.”
Ron Butler, Howard Johnson’s owner for 39 years.

“They became cost-conscious instead of customer-oriented. They lost their focus of being passionate about serving the customer.”
William Rosenberg, founder of Dunkin Donuts.

“We ran a very tight operation. We kept our expenses low. We wanted to have earnings improvement. We were on top of the numbers daily.”
Howard B. Johnson who assumed the role of company president in 1959. Quoted from a 1985 interview in Forbes magazine.

Lesson: If all you focus on is results, you won’t achieve them long term.

Proof that relationships with your employees and customers are the key to long-term, sustainable sales growth.

How is your organization doing?

Why do some executives fail while others flourish?  In in-depth interviews with 41 executives, the American Management Association found that these traits often lead to failure:

1. Insensitivity to co-workers.
2. Aloofness and arrogance.
3. Tendency to misuse information conveyed in confidence.
4. Inability to control ambition.
5. Inability to delegate assignments or promote teamwork.
6. Inability to staff effectively.
7. Inability to think strategically.
8. Over dependence on mentors.

And remember, it’s all about the relationship.

I recently had a conversation with a client who worked for Ross Perot during the early days of EDS. He had a major responsibility – talent recruitment. My first question was, “Tell me about Ross Perot.”

His answer, “I have never worked for a more effective leader. He had the gift of inspiring people to want to join a start-up company for less pay and benefits than they could receive from other companies. People were fiercely loyal to our organization and would push themselves to levels of exhaustion to accomplish our mission.”

I next inquired as to how Ross Perot created this powerful sense of teamwork and loyalty. His response: “All prospective team members met with Ross prior to being offered employment. He asked each individual the following question, ‘What are your beliefs?’ Many responded, ‘that’s personal’ to which Ross answered, ‘I know, now tell me about your beliefs.’ The hiring decision was based primarily on how people responded to the question, as Ross wanted to uncover the core values (the heart versus the head) that guided people. If the answers related to position or power, these folks were not hired, as Ross Perot wanted team members who were committed to lasting values such faith, family, and impeccable integrity. In short, we wanted employees who were committed to serving each other.”

This conversation reinforces the following seven steps that are essential if you want to build a winning, passionately engaged team…

• Step One – Hire the right leaders

• Step Two – Hire the right people

• Step Three – Establish the right values.

• Step Four – The right behavior. This is the result of people living the right values such as treating each other with dignity and respect.

• Step Five – The right environment. The right people living the right values create the right environment that people want to join.

• Step Six – The right relationships. The right people living the right values in the right environment build the right relationships. The result is trust and loyalty – the foundations of all winning teams.

• Step Seven – The right results. When organizations follow the previous six steps they will ultimately build passionately engaged teams that dominate their field, whether it be academic, athletic, or business.

What are your beliefs? What do you really stand for?

And remember, it’s all about the relationship.