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| Help Me Figure It Out! |
1. Whatever Happened to Naked Fear?
This happened early in my career. A lot of the executives in the 1970’s had learned about management and leadership as officers in World
War II. They understood the need for
clarity of mission and discipline in execution.
Usually the mission devolved from on high and execution was within
defined parameters.
I was naïve and had bought into some of the
new theories about “humanity” in “personnel management.” There was an emerging idea that people should
participate in defining the mission and be empowered to execute within broad
parameters.
I came up against a grizzled veteran who
was struggling to see the benefit of a new way.
The old way worked. We had won
the war.
My struggle isn’t with the executive,
because in many ways I’ve come to believe in his type of strong leadership – particularly
in this era of record low employee engagement.
My struggle is with the incessant volumes
of literature that paint participation and empowerment as new. It isn’t.
We know more about it. We’ve
polished it more. We aggrandize it, but
it isn’t new.
Lesson #1:
Empowerment and participation aren’t the only way.
2. There’s Nothing Attached to the Strings!
2. There’s Nothing Attached to the Strings!
I was consulting to a CEO to implement some
new management techniques in the business.
I worked with him, his executive team, and project teams for several
months to come up with the definitive implementation plan of: issues, goals,
projects, and accountabilities. As he
signed off on the tome he sighed:
“People think all I do all day is
sit up here and pull strings. Well I do,
but there is nothing attached to those strings.”
That simple comment taught me the fallacy
of the CEO. We tend to believe that with
all of their positional power and personal influence that they can do
miracles. In change management the #1
reason for failure is cited as the “lack of leadership
commitment.” Don’t believe it for a
minute. Leaders are committed, but they
need help tying the strings together.
Lesson #2:
Knowing the answer is only half of the solution; knowing what to do with
it is the other half.
3. Don’t Believe What You Believe!
3. Don’t Believe What You Believe!
I was consulting to the CEO of a private
company that had won a multi-billion dollar, long-term contract to privatize
and manage an iconic government service.
We had about a dozen bi-party “tables”
examining the major transition issues. We
were in heavy negotiations with government officials. Things were not going well.
My CEO and his counterpart convened a
meeting of “table leaders.” There were about
30 people in the boardroom. It turned
into an emotional, pressure filled “knock ‘em down drag ‘em out.” The two CEO’s were bulls at center stage. We were scolded and told
to get back to work.
That night my CEO called me and asked if I
wanted to play golf the next day. I
agreed to meet him for lunch on the verandah of his club. As I walked up to his table you know who was
sitting with him – his counter-CEO. The
whole meeting had been staged. They were
both angry about the “table gridlock” and decided to blow the whole thing up
and lay down the law.
As we teed off my CEO told me to “never
believe what you believe.” Since that
day I’m the first to examine: orthodoxies, paradigms, myths and legends.
Lesson #3:
When you're working with CEO’s there are no rules.
4. It’s About More than the Money!
4. It’s About More than the Money!
About a decade ago I was asked to lead a
customer loyalty initiative for a large global manufacturing company.
In my first meeting with the CEO I asked
why customer loyalty had become a priority.
He said that he was near the end of his career; he’d made a lot of money
for himself and others. But he felt that
leaving might be like taking his hand out of a bucket of water. Before long there would be little evidence of
his time at the helm.
He was searching for something that had
sustaining power. He wanted the customer
experience to differentiate the company in what had become a price-driven
commodity industry.
One thing he knew was that deeply ingrained
silo metrics were getting in between employees and their customers. Sure, numbers were essential for setting
goals and understanding performance; however, they got in the way of people
doing the right things.
He rejected the adage: “if you can’t
measure it, you can’t manage it.” He had
concluded: “if you're measuring it, you're not leading it.”
Much of our job was to set up a tension
between internal metrics and external outcomes.
Resolving the tension was usually a matter of how strongly the company
believed in its stated values about employees and customers.
Lesson #4:
Beware of metrics – they work.
5. I Can
Create Meaningful Work!
Recently I finished a two-year assignment
in Asia. We were asked to transform a
large complex organization. The project
started in the usual way – working with the CEO and executives to describe the
current and future states. It was boring
and uninspiring. Their business sounded
just like all others in their industry.
Yet, the CEO was an energizing leader. He was far from boring and totally
inspiring. He emoted a passion that
wasn’t in the written words of mission, strategy, and business plans.
One evening the CEO invited our team to
dinner. I took this informal opportunity
to dig deeper into why he took on this challenging job. His passionate response was surprising and
revealing.
He knew that his position gave him
tremendous power to shape the working lives of young people in his
country. His view was that his country
had gained its economic strength by doing the outsourcing work from the west. He believed that he could influence the
creation of thousands of creative-content jobs, not only in the company he led
but also throughout the nation.
This was a turning point in our work. When we better understood him, we better
understood our job.
Lesson #5:
CEO’s have a passion that drives them.
You’ve just got to find it.
Our leaders influence our lives. These CEO’s deeply shaped the way I do my work.
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