Leadership on Speed

coaching your promotees to success

This post is inspired by Steve Tobak.  Back in July he wrote a post entitled Why That Big Promotion Can Be a Curse. Steve's post focused on failed CEO promotions in light of the BP debacle but it really got me to thinking about failed promotions at all levels of an organization and "why those little promotions can also be a curse".

In North American culture, we are taught from early ages to desire "status".  Early on (whether we as parents like it or not) society teaches our children that they are more "important" if they have it.  We get a bit more excited and proud when they are elected as team captain or president of "something".  Colleges are impressed by early demonstrations of leadership.  As we go out into the world, we are considered more successful if we move "up" into management.  We gain more money and we gain more respect.

It is what it is.  No judgment here.

The problem is that all too often, when we promote our high performers, we do nothing to ensure their continued success and when they fumble their way to failure, everyone loses. 

For the sake of clarity, we'll place promotions into two distinct buckets: managerial and non-managerial.

Non-managerial promotions tend to involve technical expertise (ie promotion from Lab Tech One to Lab Tech Two).  They may involve some implied leadership based on a greater knowledge-base but the associate is not held accountable for the leadership they take on.

This posted is directed towards those promoted into management and how organizations can help newly promoted managers and leaders be successful from the beginning:

1.  Begin to provide leadership opportunities before the promotion.  This gives the candidate an opportunity to "try on" a leadership role and decide if it's for them while giving you the chance to see them in action. It also stretches them because taking on leadership without a title requires a unique skill set that will only serve them when they are promoted.

2.  Don't assume that your newly promoted manager has the skills for his new role. Educate associates on what it means to be a manager and if possible, set-up advancement tracks that are not linked to management.  Recognize that not everyone wants to be a manager and not everyone who wants to be a manager can do so.

3.  Provide a leadership coach to newly promoted managers and new leaders in the organization.  This gives them a "partner" from the beginning and provides objective feedback to support leadership growth by an expert in the field.

4.  Assign a mentor at least two levels above the new leader.  Why two levels?  Leaders at the next level may feel threatened by up-and-coming talent. 

5.  Set-up quarterly personal development goals and assessments.  New leaders need to know what's working and what isn't working (collaborating with a leadership coach can maximize this process).  This also demonstrates that you care about their success beyond the numbers and models a process that they will adopt as they grow and promote others!

6.  CRITICAL: Rinse and repeat with every promotion.  These guidelines don't just apply to the first time manager.  They also apply when a manager is promoted to senior manager, a senior manager to a director and on and on.  Each new level brings its own new challenges and corporate leadership has a responsibility to provide the tools to offer its leaders the best opportunity to succeed.  We all know that "hope is a bad business plan" and that applies to "hoping" new leaders succeed without giving them any tools to do so.

Continue to be great!

managers as leaders and leaders as managers

Although leaders and managers have very distinct roles, there is little doubt that in today's business environment leaders must be willing to wear a management hat and managers would do well to incorporate leadership skills.  They are flip sides of a very complimentary coin.

If you are often confused on the distinctions between leaders managers, here are a few brought to you courtesy of Warren Bennis:

• The manager asks how and when; the leaders asks what and why
• The manager has an eye on the bottom line; the leader has an eye on he horizon
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leaders challenges it
• The manager is a classic good soldier; the leader is his/her own person

For a more comprehensive list, check out this Wall Street Journal adaptation or better yet, pick up a copy of On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis.

What are you finding in your organization?  Are there still very distinct roles between managers and leaders or have the roles merged as times have changed? 

Continue to be great!

leadership lessons from colin powell

"The day soldiers stop bringing you their problems is the day you have stopped leading them.  They have either lost confidence that you can help them or concluded that you do not care.  Either case is a failure of leadership."

How tuned in are you within your organization to the people you lead? 

How tuned in is your upper management team?

One of the greatest challenges in the corporate environment is the barrier to upward communication at the top levels of an organization (and all too often in the middle as well).  People often laugh about the ivory tower but it happens because, at a certain point in positional growth, leaders stop listening to their people and begin to operate in ways that diminish honest communication.

In an effort to move their organizations forward, some leaders take a hammer and nail approach or become so entrenched in their own way of thinking that it quickly becomes apparent that their mind is closed to creative and fresh ideas or possibilities - especially in tough economic times.

"Real leaders make themselves accessible and available."

As a leader, your people need to get a sense of authentic concern for their challenges and their efforts.  You may not always hear what you want to but you'll always know what you need to.

You can't help solve problems you aren't aware of and while you may not feel you have time to be the corporate go-to guy/gal for the lightweight problems, would you rather deal with a pebble or a boulder?

Open communication is essential to a healthy organizational environment and successful accomplishment of the mission. 

What kind of leader are you?

What kind of leader would you like to be?

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!

leadership lessons from colin powell

"Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off."

Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions.  According to Colin Powell, it's inevitable if you're honorable. 

Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you'll avoid the tough decisions, you'll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted and you'll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset.

At the end of the day, by trying to be the nice guy and treat everyone equally, you'll eventually end up angering your best talent who may choose to go to work for someone who isn't "just" a nice guy.

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!

find your ideal client

The other day, a friend of mine and I were discussing the dating scene.  She was sharing some concerns about the gentleman she is currently dating.

Suddenly, it hit me.

Finding your ideal client is not vastly different than finding your ideal client.

The more clear you are about the type of client you want to work with, you can attract those clients to you and turn away those who don't fit the profile.

I know, I know...it's a scary proposition..

But think of it this way....

Why waste your time (and your clients time) when you know you aren't the best match when the "right" guy, gal or client is a heck of lot easier and so much more fun!

You were born to be great.

YES, you can! 

delegation: a key to success

Any entrepreneur will tell you that there are always LOTS of things to be done as a small business owner.

Planning, forecasting, marketing, sales, hiring, managing, networking, networking, networking....

Whew!!

And THAT is only the tip of the iceberg of business responsibilities ----

It is crucial as a business owner that you not try to do everything yourself.  Remember that old saying about "jack of all trades, master of none?".   Delegate anything that you can delegate and contract out whatever you can afford to...

I'm not a web designer so I don't do websites nor am I interested in even designing a "website in a box".  It's not what I do, it isn't fun for me and it would take me ten times longer to get it done than someone who knows what the heck they are doing! 

YOU are the business owner.  It is your job to oversee all the work and make sure the business is generating sales in order to pay the bills! So, if you can afford to contract out, contract out so you can spend your time doing what you're good at (and hopefully) what you enjoy.

You were born to be great.

YES, you can!