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The annual Times Square countdown is a few days away and the book on 2009 will close. In contrast to big overwhelming cases of nefarious business leadership, business in large continues to be lead by a bunch of good people. People doing their best to build something of value, serve customers and provide a fair return to shareholders while maintaining a culture where good, talented people want to win in an ethical way.
The craziness of the past few years has made it difficult for many leaders to keep these priorities upright, let alone appropriately balanced. We assume that past success will breed future success. We assume our long-term banking partners will continue to support growth. We assume that our favorite business partners will stick with us. We assume our market will continue.
One factor that persists is that a business's success is a direct result of a leader's ability to get business results through others. Leadership/management is a profession. One of the characteristics of high performers in the profession is self-awareness.
Some significant business assumptions have been turned upside down in the last few years. There are some commonly held assumptions about leading people that need to be officially turned upside down and discarded with the end of 2009. This month's Boek to Business suggests a few that should go into the 2009 history book. Want to get better business results through others? Test your assumptions and dump those that are not serving you well.
Best wishes for a fine holiday season with those who are most important in your life.
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Best Wishes,
Randy Boek
Founder & President
425 359-8506
888 703-6076
randyb@route2results.com
www.route2results.com
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| Top Five Assumptions to Leave Behind in 2009
It is tough to get rid of an assumption once it is firmly planted in our brain, regardless of its accuracy. Similar to the old saying, “Don't confuse me with facts; my mind is made up,” we only see validation and ignore situations and evidence that confront or disprove our assumptions. If everything around you is changing and you are not, the risk of getting left in the dust is pretty high.
I started with a list of fifteen assumptions and quickly decided that most readers would not make it past five. This is the short list of five assumptions which negatively impact a leader's success. I've seen each one multiple times with multiple leaders.
- "My people are just happy to have a job.” Maybe that's so, but maybe it's not. Do you really know? My exec recruiter contacts are hearing from growing volumes of educated, successful professionals at all levels who are looking to get out of the companies they are in as soon as the marketplace improves. Mostly these are based on work environment, not compensation issues. Some of your top leaders at various levels may be on the list.
- “Generation _____ is lazy, selfish, not committed" etc. etc. From 60 minutes to the nightly news and the Wall Street Journal to Business Week and HBR, over the past few years, we have been bombarded with information about the differences between generations and how we have to adjust our leadership approach to get results through them. Good people doing great work exist across generations. Effective leaders know their people as individuals and lead/manage them as individuals. To do otherwise is lazy leadership. Judge people based on any sort of negative group stereotypes and bingo, you will find what you're looking for and in the process make it more difficult for good people to be successful.
- “Multi-tasking is a solution to head count reduction.” More with less is an endemic business mantra and last year, it got worse. In many companies, entire departments and teams have been decimated. Some restructuring has brought efficiency, but dumping good people has been a painful reality for many leaders and the most common reality is simply more work with fewer people. Let's stop pretending. The work of three people is not going to be done by one. One person still does the work of one; although the work may be comprised of one-third each of the work that used to be done by three people. There is a correlation here between texting and driving and the outcome of other on-the-job multi-tasking. While you may not crash the car, you may be not be doing any of the multi-tasking tasks well. The customer on the other end of the phone knows if you are also writing e-mail or otherwise distracted.
- "I need to make the decision when subordinate leaders disagree." You may think this expedient and maybe it is in the short run. Beware, this creates a culture where others don't learn to make collaborative decisions. You are paying leaders to make decisions. Expect them to do so. Facilitate them through log jams. Don't assume their accountability.
- "It just business; it's not personal." Oh really? You can't have it both ways. Calling it "just business" does not negate ownership of a decision and its impact. One of the most frequent things I hear from senior leaders is a desire for a stronger sense of accountability and greater ownership from subordinate leaders and other employees. Sounds to me like an expectation that people make it personal. You want people to feel that their work is an important part of who they are? You want them to be proud of the company and proud of their contributions? It's personal. Your leadership actions impact people and that's personal.
Challenging assumptions is a significant look in the mirror. It takes a good talent for introspection to seriously consider how our perspectives may be causing behavior that impedes success. Maybe none of the five I've listed are pertinent for you. If so, what assumptions do you hold that may be getting in the way of your success?
One final question and since I am encouraging you to give some serious thought here, Marcia Gagliardi, San Francisco food writer, The Table Hopper and one of my favorite people has provided a drink recommendation appropriate to the season. For the absolute best Irish coffee and connection to everything you could possible want to know about the San Francisco food scene click here and enjoy.
What did you learn in 2009 both individually and collectively as a leadership team?
I wish you the best of success in 2010.
Lagniappe - A little something extra and $100 from Route 2 to a worthy charity
Women buying shoes is a bigger deal than I fully understand. Clayton and Stephanie at the Seattle Fluevog store understand selling shoes. They understand buying shoes. Most importantly they understand how to merge the two and build a long-term customer relationship in the process. The relationship they build is unique, however, in that it is not just to them personally but also to the store and the brand. An honest and persistent commitment to make sure that the customer gets exactly the right shoe for the need. A true partnership with the customer to make it happen – and that is a little something extra service.
Expert shopper and Boek to Business reader Lacey suggested Clayton and Stephanie and Fluevog Shoes as this month's Lagniappe winner. In a day of shopping with visits to many stores, she experienced no service, bad service, average service, good service. Then at the Fluevog store, she received great service with a little something extra.
"Fluevog---Unique soles for Unique souls." This is a very cool company. Check them out here! |
