Danger signs
When any member of your senior team is effectively ring fencing their area of responsibility so that no one else really knows what is going on, that is a weakness.
I took a call from MD Emily a couple of weeks ago. She told me about her long standing finance manager John. “He is good at his job,” she said, “but now the company is growing so quickly I want him to get an assistant so that he can leave the ‘grunt work’ behind and concentrate more on strategy.”
“So what’s the problem?” I asked. “Well,” she said, “at his last appraisal he told me that he enjoyed the basics, reconciling the sales and purchase ledger, handling cash and so on. He doesn’t want an assistant yet he complains about all the work he has to take home each week.”
“So why don’t you appoint someone over John, someone that can take you forward more effectively?” “Oh, John would have to leave,” she replied. “So what? “ I said.
The fact is that there are some jugular areas of the business that require genuine openness and transparency between the top team members. You may be too close to your own business to recognise the symptoms, but when someone’s personal agenda overrides the needs of the business, there will be trouble down the line.
Sort it now.Labels: Dealing with difficult people issues now
First position
No matter how hard we try we can often only see our business and ourselves from first position. It takes usually someone else to make a point or two that can help us on our journey.
I’ve been writing blogs now for some three years and people often comment in one way or another. This week one female reader wrote:
“You write well and I always enjoyed reading your mailings. What has stood out for me recently is a sense of disillusionment, cynicism and irritation. And I was rather surprised as it wasn't something I'd noticed in your previous postings which had felt encouraging, optimistic, insightful in a positive way.”
So I went back over the last few months writing and part of my reply was:
“It all feels good at this end Lynn, just had a week in Italy, done lots of fishing recently. The only thing I can think of to match your analysis is that if I had one mentor, one ‘guru’ that I would aspire to be like, it is Alan Weiss http://www.summitconsulting.com And he is brutal. He is a brilliant speaker and consultant and I agree with just about everything he says, writes and does.
So yes I am trying to toughen up my act with clients, bureaus and time wasters, ‘cos I am now 60 and there isn’t time to mess about with idiots or well meaning buffoons. This does not mean that I don’t care or can’t find time and energy for people that need help, it just means that I am perhaps more discriminating, more assertive, more needing to make a difference where difference is needed.”
So, thank you Lynn, and everyone that writes because it is always helpful to get a ‘second position’ perspective on what we do. First position is not enough.
Labels: using feed back to clarify our position
Saying it
It is extremely positive for your business if you are able to give fulsome and generous praise verbally, whilst maintaining eye contact, whenever you feel it is deserved, to whoever it may concern.
Working on just such an exercise with an executive group recently only three out of twelve felt able to do this readily. Some leaders told me that they just “can’t do it” because they find it difficult to put the right words together or they feel embarrassed about allowing ‘emotion’ to show. “I mean,” said one, “I’m not sure how I would handle the reply.”
The business model requires us to clarify direction, develop trust and finally enhance performance. It works in that sequence. There are four groups of people where we are continuously looking to encourage great relationships. These are our colleagues, our staff, our stakeholders and our customers.
You develop great relationships by being able to acknowledge superb performance in others. It takes proper self esteem to do it properly, sincerely and effectively. It takes practice. But the pay off is much bigger than that.
When you can do this with praise, you can also do it with constructive criticism. The top leaders are able to do both.Labels: developing the ability to give both praise and criticism effectively
