END OF YEAR PAIN RELIEVERS

I lacked a certain kind of courage as an executive.
I didn't want to fire or downsize or lay-off anyone who had worked closely with me, laughed with me, done projects with me, put up with me, been employed by me.
No one deserved to be surprised by a sudden end of employment unless they had been unethical or done something illegal.
That included someone not performing well or someone profoundly irritating.

I wanted to avoid the pain, so I had to have pain relievers.  These two 
pain preventers worked for me.  I did fire people but it was never a surprise and always a transparent process.  Here's what kept me pain free.

1.  I never overstaffed my function.  I didn't want to let anyone go because I
had allowed people creep to occur.  Doing too much with too little seemed to keep people happy---if they were recognized and got a break every once in a while.

2.  This is the most important one.  I mention it as we approach a new year.
DON'T BE BLIND TO THE IMPORTANCE OF A FORMAL (the tone can be informal but the doing has to have the importance of something formal) PERFORMANCE REVIEW AND DEVELOPMENT CONVERSATION.  Everybody kind of hates doing them.  Everyone kind of hates participating in one.  Do it.  Do it.  Do it.
At least twice a year.  

Under staff and over do performance conversations.
Two great pain relievers.

ARE YOU A SCROOGE?

There are all kinds of ways to be an executive scrooge.
None of them are great for business.
Check yourself out:

Do you cut interactions  short to save time and miss the crux of the issue?

Is every conversation focused on cost rather than growth?

Are you afraid that recognition will make people work less hard?

Are you afraid that stating a problem publicly will make it worse?

Do you use too few words to communicate context and direction?

Are you stingy with raises and praise?

Do you withhold promotions too long so they are almost insulting?

Do you always look for deficiency first?

Is your first response "No"?

Do you wait too long to give major development opportunities to top people?

Stinginess can wither a business and create an atmosphere of contraction rather than of expansion and possibility.  Money is so not the only currency for an executive scrooge.  So spend more--time, attention, development, respect,
information about the business.  Spend, spend, spend.

SMALL M MORAL LEADERSHIP FOR YOUR COMPANY

I've been reading and thinking about Nelson Mandela and his moral leadership that impacted the world.

My immediate reaction was to write about how moral leadership was sorely needed in business today.  Then I thought twice.  And, of course, when one thinks twice, things get confusing. 

Moral has to do with right and wrong, good and bad. Honesty.
Is that needed in a company that makes my--say--paper clips?
What's the need or benefit for a moral leader and company of integrity?

It's worth a discussion with your Executive team.
What's constitutes right for our customers?
What's constitutes wrong for our customer's
And what constitutes good and bad for our customers?
What constitutes honesty for our customers?
This is not for customers to answer in a focus group.
This is for your top leadership group to agree on as a moral standard for the
company.

Now do the same conversation with the focus on the people working in the company?

I'm always a little afraid of rigid right and wrong.  Too simple, even too simple minded.  A business doesn't need to change the world.
But it does have to have its own kind of moral standard and integrity that fits
the business it is in.  

Try the conversation to see if there is  tight agreement on good and bad, right and wrong for customers and associates.  Make the answers specific and tangible.  Don't be blind to the power behind this kind of moral alignment for your company.  I think it will take you beyond generic company values into renewed inspiration for your business.

GETTING IT DONE ADDICTION

I love getting things done
It's one of my great pleasures
I feel freer afterwards, like I've earned a reprieve

Most business leaders share my addiction 
Straining toward results gets locked into the DNA
Pushing tight deadlines is daily business

Here's the tricky part
The constant push pops rivets
There is an art to the pacing of organizational accomplishment 
You are in charge of the "getting things done" environment of your company
Don't disperse that energy by applying it to everything always
Think physics
Gather that energy for what matters most
Constant steady pressure creates a systemic resistance --kind of like results gridlock.  

ARE PEOPLE GRATEFUL YOU ARE IN CHARGE?

Gratitude for you as a leader is a great measure of the kind of job you are doing.  I have appreciated some of my bosses.  I have liked some of my bosses.  I supported all of my bosses.  

But I have been grateful for only a few.  
Here's what they did:

They trusted my style and it was not that of corporate America (whatever that is).

They gave me great breadth to use my creativity and skills.

They made sure I understood the dynamics of the business---money making, 
people systems and functions.

They set context for my work so that I could work freely.  I understood the point in time the business was in and its history.  I "got" the strategy.

They demanded good work from me.  They expected good work from me.

They had a sense of humor when things went wrong.

They stayed the course in both the business strategy and who they were.  There was no Jekyll and Hyde dynamic.

They wanted good things for ALL the associates of the business.

They took their power role with a grain of salt.

They were likable and real.

They were competent.

They kept stretching the competency of themselves and the company.

Mostly, I knew that I would like to go through tough times with them.
Now, that's a compliment.  Would your people say the same?

POWER--FROM YOUR GIFT OR FROM YOUR EGO

We talk about the need for level five leaders as described in GOOD TO GREAT by Jim Collins.  They are to be humble about their top role while ambitious for the company.   

I absolutely advocate that top leaders use their gifts fully.  No hiding them under the proverbial basket.  Let them shine.  Be as powerful as you can be using your particular talent.  Enjoy what you can get done.  Stand out.
Be exceptional.  Lead with verve.

But don't be blind to your ego who just loves to keep the focus on you.
The ego that is greedy, selfish, and dominates others.
The ego that won't let other people win.  The ego that thinks you are sooooo
unique and special.  The ego that begins to love to be served by others, that enjoys being catered to.  

It's a thin line between having powerful gifts and using them fully and being driven by an ego to be in a dominant role of status.

How do you know when the line has been crossed?

Gift power focuses on the job to be done, the art to be created, the result 
Ego power focuses on positioning and protecting the self.

Gift power like to share the gift, teach the gift, include others in the use of the gift.
Ego power likes to keep anything good for itself.  It is stingy and doesn't share.

Gift power thinks the gift is special.
Ego power thinks it is special.

Gift power enjoys the work even without reward.
Ego power only works for the reward.

Gift power is exceptional
Ego power is common


Symptoms of when your gift power is sliding into ego?
You are scared when someone achieves something extraordinary.
You pull positional power too often
You remember someone who has pushed back on you and look for a time for pay back
You expect to be served by others whether it's to go get coffee or to relieve you of the burden for preparing for a meeting
You begin to believe your own spin.




  

HAVE YOU BROKEN A PROMISE YOU DON'T THINK YOU MADE?


As a top executive, if you are lucky, you have more people ready for top
spots than you have spots.  If you are very very lucky.

Regardless, you are trying to keep a pool of people happy enough to hang around until you make a final choice of who to place in a top job.

And so it is tempting to semi-promise or declare support for more than one person for a position.  It's not in writing.  There is no formal promise.
But there are moments of overt support after a job particularly well done or over enthusiastic performance reviews or confidential collegiality over drinks.
It's also tempting to give over compensating words to a direct report after a professional disappointment.
It happens.

You think you are giving subtle indicators of possibilities for the future.
Your direct report and valuable future exec thinks you are making a kind of promise.

At the decision moment, someone will feel, at worst betrayed or at best, poorly treated.  Don't be blind to the harm you cause with pre-mature innuendo of future promotion.  It's not the way to keep high potentials or to keep them fully engaged.

The solution is a very clean and transparent promotion process which often gets to be a too relaxed process for top positions.  

Have you made promised you can't keep?  Do you have a pristine promotion process to prevent promises and betrayal?   Don't be blind to the power of every word and innuendo you put out into the workplace.  People do hang on your every word.  After all, you are the top power person. Your words make things happen.

WHAT COST EXCELLENCE??

WHAT COST EXCELLENCE?


I've been wondering about the cost/benefit ratio of  striving for excellence.
I know, I know I know all about the grandeur of human endeavor.
But I see families, sports teams and businesses pushed to a limit that doesn't add much value.  The rivets are ready to pop.

Strive strive strive.
Push push push
Grow grow grow

Take drugs to do it.
Ignore your family to do it.
Ruin your health to do it.
Be unethical to do it.

There seems to be a point of diminishing return here.
Excellence means to be extremely good.
How about just good in every sense of the word?

BEING SLOW TO LET A COLLEAGUE GO


Facing the fact that a colleague of officer level person needs to leave
the company is tough.  It can be avoided for too long.
For all kinds of reasons:
You may have hired or promoted the person.
You have skin in the game.
You may see only the best of the person's behavior.
You may be the last person to be informed about a problem.
It takes time for the gripes and gossip and poor behavior to reach you attention.

Don't be blind to the drag on other officer's energy or the dent in the company's integrity or your reputation as gullible or duped.

People looking up sometimes see things sooner and clearer than you do.
Listen and probe.  
Check all the boxes of basic good people practices with your HR exec.
Then act.  It will never feel comfortable.

INTERNAL GOODWILL IS A QUANTIFIABLE ASSET TOO!


When you determine a valuation for your company "goodwill" is measured as a quantifiable asset of the established reputation of your enterprise over and above fair market value.

What about the internal goodwill of your company?
How much is the respectful, friendly, cooperative attitude of your work force worth?
What is the the worth of the reputation of your company to your associates?

I keep thinking in today's tough economic time that people at work will be self-centered and cynical and scared and not at all loyal.  AND they are.
BUT they don't want to be.  I have had conversations with retail workers in clothing and food recently.  Here are quotes:

I was not doing professional work when I had these conversations.

I was shopping.  I asked about merchandise and prices. 
When I smelled discontent or experienced sloppy service, I asked "Do you like working here?" 

'We don't know who we are anymore.
We don't know if we'll have jobs a year from now.
I'm selling stuff I don't care about anymore.  I don't get where we're going.
No one tells us about the future direction.
We used to be proud and know what we were about.
We want to be excited again.
It's sad that we are kind of lost.'

I was not doing professional work when I had these conversations.
I was shopping.  I asked about merchandise and prices. 
When I smelled discontent or experienced sloppy service, I asked "Do you like working here?"  Hourly people ready to express their pain about wanting to respect where they worked.  

There is good will out there waiting to be ignited.
Don't be blind to it.
It is a tangible asset or a tangible drag on the value of your company

OH, YES THERE IS!-

OH YES THERE IS!!

There really really is an X factor to a true team
As in exponential
As in magic multiplier

I've experience it as a team member
I've built it as a leader
I've seen what team does for results and a healthy company culture
And I've seen the opposite.
It can't be faked.
It is rare.
And it does make impossible things happen.

The Red Sox pennant of 2013 affirms it.
Evenly matched players
Each expert in their own role
Each needing the other to meet the goal
No super stars
All pulling on the same rope--their language
A steady at the rudder coach
Having fun
Blinking away set backs
One goal

Under tough economic duress--
With a world in turmoil--
With self-centered over paid leaders--
Team-ness  can be over looked as a luxury
It can be viewed as soft, indulgent and an unnecessary cost
Don't blind yourself to the results power of team

Not if you want to win a pennant.
Not, not, not, not, not.
Go team

DO YOU WANT YOUR EMPLOYEES TO LOVE YOUR COMPANY?

Do you actually want your associates to love the company?


I don't have the answer to that question.  
I know that I was and still am fond of the company I worked for the longest.

I must have been more than fond of it because:
I talked about it a great deal to people outside the company.
I thought about it when I wasn't at work.
I often sacrificed to give to it.
I could intuit its needs.
I was proud of it.
I wanted it to win. 
I wanted it to be healthy and worried when it wasn't.
Sounds like love to me.

And I am not that different from people who work in your company.  Many many people love their company.
Being asked to leave for a right sizing (there is no "right" word for this) is as disruptive as a divorce and just as jarring to self-esteem.
Seeing a company not live its value, as stated, is disappointing and upsetting.
Watching the erosion of trust is threatening.
People begin to learn to care less, love less.
And to leave. 
"The company's just not that into you."

That's when you begin to hear, "It's just business"-- code for "I'm going to hurt you and your loyalty but I'm not really the one doing it. Business is."

It's hard not to care for something you have given a lot of time and energy and caring.  Hard to be loyal and not love.

So it's not a cavalier question to ask, "Do you want your associates to love your company?"  Don't be blind to the fact that many do.  That's very valuable goodwill. 

But:
Would it be a good change to have people care less?
Would they work smarter and better--loyal to themselves but getting work for the company done?
Is loving your company an antiquated concept?
Can free agents be cohesive?
Can you get the x factor of performance without strong caring.
Can self interest run a company?

It's your call in many ways.  Do you want people to love your company?  

LOYAL TO WHAT?

LOYAL TO WHAT?

The easy answer to that question is, "Why, of course, loyal to the company and its mission."

What gets trickier is that loyalty to the company involves being loyal to the top leader.

What gets trickier is that there are usually people wanting to be the top leader next.

What gets trickier is there are usually only 2 or 3 people being considered to be the top leader next.

What gets trickier is that each of these possible successors tries to win the loyalty of "the people".  

What gets trickier is that each of these hopeful people want to win your loyalty  as the top leader and they are good at doing it.

What gets trickier is the whole company is trying to figure out who to be loyal to in order to get ahead or stay safe.

What gets trickier is that soon you have a company of divided loyalties

What gets trickier is trying to align that company 

What gets trickier is settling down the company after one person has been chosen next leader

Loyalty is tricky.

YOU CAN TEACH LEADERSHIP--TREAT IT LIKE A TRADE

TEACH LEADERSHIP LIKE A SKILLED TRADE----BE THE MASTER TEACHER


Most of us will say leadership is both an art and a skill but we forget to teach it as a tangible skill.
And you, as a top leader, are the best person to teach your top talent.

It does demand some self awareness on your part.
Easy enough to get if you are bold enough to ask others about your impact.
And it does demand sharing parts of your role--meaningful parts of your role.

Here is how skilled artisans are taught:

l.  They watch the Master 
2. They do the work with the Master
3. They do the work alone and the Master watches and gives support and feedback.
4. They do the work alone

Think of how you might make these steps explicit with each of your direct reports.  Or with your named successor.  These steps are indeed used to develop talent  but often with a rather vague approach.  Make it clear as a development/ apprenticeship pattern.

l.  Watch me do the analyst call.
    Here's what I want to accomplish.
    Talk with me after to share observations.

2.  Next time, prep with me for the part on logistics.
     I will ask you to speak about investment in systems.

3.  The 3rd Quarter you will prep and present on the ROI on the logistics 
     investments.  I'll support if needed and critique after.

4.  You handle the logistics at BOD and Analyst calls as needed.  Be ready to 
     present each quarter. 

The blind spot here is that we can get too tied up in our underwear (a quote from many leaders I worked with)  about leadership skills. It can be made too esoteric.  Treat it like an artisan skill and be the Master Teacher.  You are anyway, so you might as well do it consciously.  You'll get more of what you want. 

DOESN'T ANYBODY RETIRE ANYMORE?


I don't mean in the sense of people finding second careers or soul satisfying initiatives after leaving their formal life's work.
As an aside, that has actually become a burden to quite a few worn out people who now have to chase after meaning and recreation with the same vengeance they did work. 

And then there are the people thrust out of a company a bit
too early for retirement who, still have full tilt boogy energy and have to find a new path for it.  That's not retirement.  That's talent looking for a place to land.

I'm talking about good old fashioned retirement.  You work and develop with a company for 30- 40 years.  You identify with it.  You are proud of it or exasperated with it. Like family.   You have clothes with its logo on them.  Your retirement is planned by the Human Resources crew. No surprise. It is announced gracefully.  There is a celebration, a lunch, a speech, a letter.  The cycle of your work is completed.  You feel honored for your time and contribution.  You don't feel like a fool for being loyal.  And you are done.  You relax.  You suck in spending a little and take it easy.  You get together with other retirees once a year for a company sponsored lunch and you actually want to go.  That kind of retirement.

Now it's more the down sized, right sized, kicked out people who get together.
I know the retirement watch was at best trivial, so what do I think is missing?
What is it I don't want you to be blind to?

I guess this is it.  Don't be blind to:

The fact that you are not proud of abrupt leave taking of your people.  That you own the action.  And therefore, you may avoid the right kind of good-by.

The benefit of continuing fondness for your organization by people who have left.  That fondness is good for organizational health and connection to the community and internal pride.

The reality that leaving an organization without choice is like divorce or 
being a victim of power.  It hurts and knocks people for a loop.  

Your own feelings that might  be quite compromisd.  You've broken an implicit expectation.  So get clear about what you regret and what you don't

The moral demand that anyone who has given you long service deserves your respectful good-bye.

That's my point(s)!

YOU ARE CONTAGIOUS.

Your moods, your energy, your strategic stance, your words.  Your people emulate  them either out of admiration for you or because copying power helps them get power.  

So know when to put yourself in quarantine.

Because what is within will truly surround you.

It takes constant alert self-awareness or a good colleague who lets you know when you need to stay in your office for a while.

Until you can sit at the big people's table again.

Even CEO's need time outs.

IT'S YOUR TASK TO ASK

You just may be the dumbest person in the whole organization or the least able to learn.

The white noise that surrounds you is the roaring lack of real feedback that allows you to know your impact and adjust it.

It is your task to ask for this information and to do it in such  a way that it makes it easy for  people to talk to you honestly.  And even then  know that it is skewed information.

If someone has the nerve to come to you with  important negative feedback, then probably they have thought about it for at least three months, talked about it with at least five others for corroboration and reached the  point of talking directly with you.  The irritation or pain finally outweighed the intimidation factor.  And this is true if you are the most approachable,open and tolerant CEO.  Your position simply weights too much.  

Positive information is equally awkward for  people to give.  I mean, you are in charge of the goodies and flattery does work.  It's hard not to be seduced.  And if the positive recognition is sincere, it's harder to give for fear of being seen as kissing up.  

So my two cents is listen to the negative with a multiple of five and to the positive with a negative multiple of three.  Magnify the negative and reduce the  positive to begin to get a realistic picture.  Three for the positve because it is easier to give than the negative.  Takes less courage.

It is your job to make real conversation about the business and your impact easy and  productive.

Ask specific targeted questions about your impact.  Don't wait for the volunteer.

It really is your task to ask. 

HERE IS AN ODD BLIND SPOT TO THINK ABOUT

Most organizations have task forces and major projects and one-time summits and ad hoc committees working on a regular basis.  They contribute to move many goals forward.  I'm raising the caution to look at how many are at work in your company and how close are you to what they are doing.  Are they superfluous or have they taken over running the company. Neither is OK.  What do you as top leader want and expect from them?


Here is food for thought.
Are projects doing the most interesting work in the company?
If they are, are you giving enough time to guiding and supporting them?
Is the work of your major functions diminished by the "extraordinary" working groups?
Where does the major energy and oomph of your company reside?
Do functions get the boring day to day work and cross-functional groups get the crucial business building work?
If so, do you need to look at your structure?  How could a different structure support the work that is now "extra-ordinary" to fold it into the mainstream?
Are the same favored high potentials put into this project work?
Do you need that talent fully engaged in the day to day?
Are Initiatives killing your core business?
Is your core business  so stuck that you are tilting at windmills hoping for a lucky hit with special initiatives?


New projects and initiatives can be invigorating if the content is right and the resources managed well.  They can also create organizational fatigue and become a drag on the business.

So food for thought on a possible odd blind spot.

CLEAN OUT YOUR INTERNAL GUNK!

DO AN ASSESSMENT OF YOUR INTERNAL GUNK!

As a CEO or top executive leader, you have to absorb too much. 

Too much information
Bad surprises in results
Big fat mistakes that cost huge chunks of money
Conflict between functions on your team
Idiotic turf wars or personality clashes 
Constant prepping for a Board Meeting or Analyst call
Top talent that disappoints or demands
Community expectations
Realization that a major initiative just isn't going to get the job done
A direct report that drives you nuts

AND being at the top you manage your emotions and your impulsive responses and your bluntly honest thoughts  and keep moving.

And mostly that's good.  You carry too much power to habitually unload on the company and your team(s).

BUT that necessary reserve can build up internal gunk that can get pretty darned distracting and noisy.  It creates a drag on your leadership energy.

You know its gunk when you:
-Talk about the same issue and person for more than six months with your professional confidante
-Blow your stack at a meeting and direct it publicly at one person
-Begin to gossip about one of your direct reports about another person on the team
-Feel insulted or outraged at most interactions with the same person
-You talk to your best friend or spouse about this issue or person during purely social engagements
-You have given up on a person and they don't know it and it's been more than 3 months
-Are jealous or resentful of someone's success
-When it feel so good to have a drink and talk about it with whoever is drinking with you
-You turn this person or issue or decision over and over in your mind when you are alone in the car

My point is that gunk is inevitable.  You need to do a mental assessment of the topics  in your internal gunk.  Usually there is one that dominates.  Then address it.
-Get clear about it first.  What are you thinking and feeling about it.  -
-Then create the conversation in your head or, better yet, on paper. 
- Sit on it for a week.  Share it with one person.  Decide if clarifying it for yourself is enough
- Then decide.  Does the idea of addressing it directly make you feel more energetic, more ready to engage, more powerful, more authentic or scared, unsure and ambivalent.  Don't act unless you know the difference. 
-Then let it go.  Clear it out.  

I am not talking about everyday irritations.  This type of gunk clearing is not to be done frequently.  But not to realize that you carry it  and not  to decide about how or whether to  handle your particular "gunk" is a real drain on your much needed clear leadership power.

BURST OF COMPASSION FOR THE CEO

Really.  I mean it.
I don't want the tone of what I write to be overly provocative or smart alecky.
Really.
I just want to help good leaders be good.
I mean good people who are also good at what they do.
And power can be so darned distorting.
And hard to keep these days too.

So here's a blind spot that gets ignored.
CEO's and top leaders are over criticized and under appreciated.

And of course, they can take the heat of the kitchen.
But when they are the highest paid person in most cases and with the most power over the lives of people in the company, it's hard not to resent them or think their life is waaaaaaay better.

Well it is and it isn't.

Top power is also:
Isolating
Running after results day after day after day after day
Demanding of engagement without respite
Leading without always knowing where to go
Always making someone unhappy
Being discussed and disliked by many
Making nice when you want to be grumpy
Hurting people and killing ideas
Being misinterpreted 
Thinking about how long you'll last or should last
Wondering about you can trust
Always holding your hand to the flame

So, thanks for wanting the job
For showing up.
For being willing to hold so much
For leading

STOP TREATING THE BASICS LIKE NEW CONCEPTS--JUST GET IT DONE AND KEEP IT DONE.  


Why do we keep circling back to the basics of running a company as if they were something new and exciting.  To keep reading articles and books about fairness and participation and recognition and feedback and development is making me nuts.  Does business have to live in perpetual Groundhog Day.
Can't anything stay done. 

Listen to some of what I just scanned in recent business writing:

Women are 50 % of the world and need to be 50% of our talent. (Fascinating)
We need business friendly family policy.  (Yep, yep, yep)
We need equal pay for equal work. (How long has this been going on?)
We need respectful/inclusive workplaces. (Do tell)
We need civility AND we need to spell out behaviourally what that is? (Maybe for Cro-Magnon leaders!)
We need to align people and get their buy-in.  (No kidding).
People need recognition and to know how their work fits into the whole. (Yawn)
Balance the chaos of innovation with the stability of the core business. (Okey dokey)
People perform better with feedback and challenge. (You don't say.)

I'm getting bored as a write.

Not that these things aren't important.
Rather that they are SO important that they ought to have been nailed long ago. 
What is it that keeps the basics of leading an organization treated as though it were new and novel?
How come learning doesn't stick?  
How come there has to be a new flavor of the day to remind you of the basics?   
Developmental talent review!!!  Shocking!  Let's try it!  Civil behaviour!!  Let's roll it out and teach civility.  Great idea!  Yawn and growl both.

There is some kind of learning disability here.  ADHD at the organizational level.
Top leaders-- you have to  demand that the basics are absolutely solid.  Then you can build on a foundation that is ready for stretch, for new markets, for disruption, for building continuous growth and organizational health.
Please nail these basics. They need to be routine and embedded in your company.  Then you can  do your particular brand of leadership and give your particular leadership gift.

TWO GREAT QUESTIONS TO  DISCOVER A BLIND SPOT


I write on the supposition that the more power you carry the harder it is to know your impact on people and your organization.  So as a top executive it is harder to continue to develop. The most fertile time to gain self-awareness as a leader is at the second or third tier of leadership.  At this point you and everyone else knows you are still learning and that it's still cool to learn. 
Executive coaching and in-house mentoring are welcome.  CEO not so much.
Not that you are not a learner and wanting to improve but you are crazy busy, nobody mentors you, people think you already actually know stuff and you begin to think you do too.  

Regardless of level, if you hold people's daily life and strife in your hands, it's hard to get a true picture of yourself.

These two questions help and can be asked simply and directly.  A formal review is a great time to use them but so is the informal conversation that kind of falls in your lap.

1.  What is an impact that I have that I may not know about?  That helps or doesn't?

2.  What do you do that is good work and effort that you think I don't see or
fully appreciate?

Simple.  Ask.  Listen.  Open up the answers that you are given.  Do it often.
With many people.

Both let you know what you are not seeing.

HOW DID WE GET BACK TO FEAR?

HOW DID WE GET BACK TO FEAR??

I am hearing more stories about fear in organizations than I have for a long time.
We worked hard in the 80's at getting fear out of the way so that companies could flourish.

Quality circles.
Team building.
Straight talk.
Conflict resoluton.
Open door policies
360 degree feedback
Inclusive culture
Solid  people policies


These were not  soft skills.  They were approaches to eliminating fear of whimsical power and cronyism.  They were about an atmosphere of assumed fairness.  SO THAT PEOPLE COULD THINK ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS AND THE BUSINESS NOT THEMSELVES.  

Fear has seeped back into the workplace:

Will I be "down sized?"
Can I give my opinion or will I be punished?
Do I have to watch who I support or talk to?
Do I have to pick sides to be safe?
Am I doing a good enough job?  Does it matter if I am?
Does top leadership know how to take us into the future?
Do I have to be just a little bit dishonest to survive?
Do I have to protect myself and my resume all the time?
Do I have to agree with what I think is wrong?
Am I stupid to give 100% to this company?  Am i being a fool?
Do I have to commit to actions I think are wrong for the business?

Where did this fear come from?
Does economic down turn necessarily create a harsh punishing reality?
Are leaders scared or uncaring?

I want to go on the record as naive.
When the external world is a little or a lot scarey I think:

People won't be scared if they understand the business challenges in specific detail. 
People won't be scared if they make the decisions that will effect them --even laying off or eliminating positions.
People won't be scared if top leaders share in the pain of adjustment to a new reality.
People won't be scared if everyone sacrifices for the common good and no one is sacrificed.
People won't be scared if there is a steady hand on the tiller that knows how to navigate through the challenges.
People won't be scared if they are pulled together to get through a tough time
rather than splintered and isolated by rumors and special relationships.
People won't be scared if they are not threatened.

Tell me.  Where did this new wave of scare come from?

THE EXECUTIVE SKILL OF NURTURING


I've been thinking about the tone of today's companies:
-Almost hysterical action--go go go go go go.
-Overload, hopelessness about getting "it" done no matter how hard you work.
-Top leadership distant from the heart of the business.
-Disruptive solutions and ideas with no time to test the viability before a new one arrives.
-Accelerated hiring and firing trying to get "it" right
-No rest, very little validation

And you as top leader, may not see that your company needs a little nurture.
You, yourself, have probably learned to live without it and have forgotten that you could use a little yourself.  

Nurture feeds.
Nurture gives rest when needed
Nurture stays on the look out for danger or illness.
Nurture stays in touch and knows instinctively what is going on and what is needed.
Nurture enjoys caring.

If this all sounds a little too maternal just look at the definition of "nurture".
"to care for and encourage growth and development
 to provide what is necessary for health and welfare of an organism
 to nourish for growth"

Your Board should be all over you if you are not nurturing your organization.
I think most companies could use a little soothing and reassurance in order to keep giving their all.

I'm saying you may be blind to your own need for nurture and therefore are not giving it to your company and its people.

EVERYBODY WANTS TO DO A GOOD JOB

PEOPLE REALLY DO WANT TO DO A GOOD JOB AT WORK

I cringe a little as I write that because I can hear the counter arguments coming at me.
"Most people just want their paycheck"
"Many people don't care about the company--it's just a job."
"You don't know so and so who stole, sexually harassed, undermined, had an affair, embezzled."
"There will always be a few rotten potatoes."

Well, yes I do.  
In fact, I had to fire quite a few.
And in the firing, often found what had gotten rotten at work or at home.
And it was a sorry loss.

But I also saw the hurt and lost potential of many who:

Learned they couldn't trust top leadership's words
Never had a review and who were hungry for a little feedback and recognition
Saw a glaring double standard between top leadership and the "rest of the company"
Were managed as if they were recalcitrant children
Became cynical as espoused values became a laughing stock
Lost hope as harshness became the response to tough economics
Began to think their loyalty to the company was foolish, not smart

And I was lucky enough to see the opposite.
I saw the x factor of commitment and energy when:

People were talked to straight
Company challenges were put on the table for all to solve
Tough action like down-sizing was done collaboratively
Values were created through behavior not words
Idealism wasn't scorned as soft
Associates were given as much decision making impact as possible
Company direction made sense
Gains and losses were shared equally 
Work challenged the best in everyone

Don't let a blind spot (or perhaps, better put--a callus) develop simply because times are tough and you live between a constant rock and a hard place.
Start by assuming people want to do good work for you.
Then the questions are different.
How do you release it?
How do you trust it?
How do you lean into this fact rather than deny it?

It's a much healthier organizational stance with much more potential for
the x factor of achievement than the grim approach of thinking you have to tug behavior out of your people.

BE LOYAL TO THE COMPANY NOT TO INDIVIDUAL P

BE LOYAL TO THE COMPANY NOT TO INDIVIDUALS

I much prefer trust to loyalty when it comes to organizational health.
I have just experienced and watched clients experience the toppling of relationships when they are based on individual loyalty rather than on organizational loyalty. 

These are screechingly tough times of duress and rock and a hard place pressure.  There seems to be not-- "enough"--time, resources, market share,
labor, ideas--you name it. 

There is a lot of unexpressed fear and distrust.
So people hope to find safety and survival by joining forces which we call loyalty  which is certainly a soft term for a harsh reality.  Organizations develop fissures among teams and levels and departments.  People choose which party they belong to--Leader A or Leader B.  It's a bet on who will win.  It's almost like a silent civil war. 

The more the external pressure, the more the divisions stand in bold relief.  Down sizing, restructure falls along these fault lines.  Huge chunks of talent are lost to mistaken loyalty.  If only this loyalty could be to the company not to individuals.

It is one of the supreme tests of CEO character and skill to make loyalty to the organization strengthen in times of duress.  And it is a supreme CEO failure if loyalties (not loyalty) magnify division and bring the level of possible transcendence of differences down to the lowest common behavior of "me first".  I have seen long term working relationships and teams tattered when the CEO him or herself demands loyalty to themselves rather than the organization.
  
I hate it.  I hate the souring of people toward the company as loyalties shift.
I hate the lost of collaborative achievement in tough times.  I hate the common
crassness of selfish loyalty.  Loyalty should bring out the best in people not the worst.

So I opt for trust.  Reliability, strength, truth, ability. 
Loyalty scares me in today's organizations.

I DARE YOU TO ASK A COLLEAGUE--"AM I BURNED OUT?"

It's tough for a top leader to spot his or her own burn-out.
One of the reasons it's tough is that most of you are determined to do a good
job against all odds.  No matter what you feel.  Another reason is that you view it as your job to set an example for everyone in your company.  Always on, never lagging onward and upward. You get used to living with "grueling" as your steady state of being.You are in adrenaline overdrive most of the time with no respite to ask yourself how you are doing.  REALLY, how are you doing?

Here's what I have seen and experienced as signals of burn-out.
See if any are familiar.

-You are beginning to feel both overly challenged and bored at the same time

-You create new task forces for the same ole problems

-Your outside corporate citizen work feels restful to you

-Vacations are irritating

-Your HR executive asks you about your calendar overload and your focus

-You face your key meetings with dread and obligation

-You can't take your hand away from the flame be it a problem or a growth possibility or a talent issue. 

-You talk a lot about your commitment and energy for the company.  It feels a little like "you doth protest too much".

-You wait too long to take action on key issues and then the action is too extreme

-There is a sense of staleness and repetition to major organization events

-There is a treadmill quality to your work instead of momentum

Burn-out is insidious and quiet and sucks vitality from your company.
When you have a whole top team that is burned out, it is mutually reinforcing.
No one sees it.
Check yourself for the intimations of burn-out and welcome the voice that mentions it bluntly.

              YOU --NOT THE BUDGET--SET THE SPENDING THERMOSTAT FOR YOUR COMPANY 

It is the rare CEO who treats his budget and expense account exactly as she or he would a budget at home.  Most of you remember the thrill of your first company car or the initial first class flight with the sense of undeserved abundance or well earned perk.  But it quickly becomes second nature and money is easily spent without the kind of twinge that happens when you do personal spending.  The comfort and ease become habitual. The bottles of wine become better quality.  The meeting sites get more luxurious.  Everyone gets unspoken permission for spending creep.

  It's repugnant to police people.  Especially peers. Don't.  This is the supreme walk the talk moment.  How you spend, the company spends.  How you spend is shared and gossiped about.  How you spend decides if you have a caste or class based company. 

Simply assume there is a YouTube video watching you spend company money.
What would you immediately do differently?

  

SEE ENERGY AS TANGIBLE AS YOUR P&L

SEE ORGANIZATIONAL ENERGY AS TANGIBLE AS YOUR P&L STATEMENT

I get agitated when people tell me about the boring, non-productive, rote,
poorly organized, non-focused meetings and retreats and workshops they have to attend.

Let's start with "have to".  What if all meetings were voluntary?
State the purpose and see who shows up. That would tell you where organizational energy really is.  Where does people's energy go?
Too often it goes to figuring out what the heck is going on with the top executives.

I have seen meetings become a resting place. People enter a trance.  
"Thank goodness, I can rest and hide in this cocoon of a meeting?  Hope my numbers are right.?  I'll do my part and then wait til this washes over me.
Where's my Blackberry?"

OK,not all meetings, but way too many.


Coming together away from the flow of work should create energy not kill it.
And not just for the moment of the meeting or event.
It should create a battery full of energy for the work that every one wants to do--that this particular organization wants to do.
"Wants" to do.  Hello.  "Wants to do"
That's where energy comes from.
Wanting to do something.
So its your job to involve people with the something to co- create the "want"
"To do" or action comes from that want.
After that let the energy flow.
It will find its way to the result or goal  IF the organization "wants" it.

Meetings should ignite and reignite the desire to get something done.  
Tie everything you do back to that basic "want"
What does your company "want" to get done.
People should leave your meetings with more energy and focus and optimism than when they entered.  


Everything else is waste.