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In Business article-check it out in the current edition, or simply read it here-
Top 5 CEO Attributes
Naomi Mashford
Director
‘A leader is not appointed because he/she knows everything and can make every decision. He/she is appointed to bring together the knowledge that is available and then create the prerequisites for the work to be done’ (Jan Carlzon- Moments of Truth)
So what PROBLEMS do you as Business Leaders/CEO’s encounter, how do you deal with them, who do you seek guidance and wisdom from, how do you prioritise, how do you know if you are in fact on track?
Typically, Time, People and Money are the birth place of all issues.
Do you have the required systems that will allow you to deliver on time, or have you just missed a golden opportunity because you were too slow to market.
Is your business successful enough to allow you to employ the very best people, or are you in survival mode and effectively doing the work of three people? Do you wish you could clone your best customers, and subsequently discover YOUR niche market?
Are you making the money/return that you need to?-would you like to expand but can’t afford to, would you like to invest more into your staff-bonuses, rewards, training, coaching, etc-but are held back by finances?
We must then ask, what are the IMPLICATIONS – how are you currently being effected by these (and many other) problems?
If for example your systems issues are significant enough that they are negatively impacting your customer service, you must identify the root cause- focus on the cure as opposed to the symptoms. What if you had robust stable systems, how many more customers could you attract, how much expansion would be possible? How much wastage would you save?
Are your best people leaving you or being poached, placing you on the never ending recruitment treadmill. What if your company was truly recognised as THE best place to work-can you imagine having a waiting list of quality candidates? Have your best customers started to walk? Picture this- cherry picking from your competitors, ‘top of mind’ brand positioning.
Money cash flow, finances holding you back? If you could generate the returns you desire, what could you do with it, who/what would you invest in? Perhaps you would act upon your expansion plans rather than simply dream about them!
As we can clearly see the POSSIBILITIES for growth, change, promotion, market leadership, R & D are endless-we must however recognise that survival and success are poles apart, and that the path to success via trial and error is very slow and ultimately extremely costly.
So what are the top 5 CEO attributes?
1. CONNECTION this encompasses, communication, networking, client and staff relationships etc- if you as Business Leader/CEO can’t connect on many levels, be warned, that whilst you may wear the ‘badge of honour’, your people/customers will connect and follow someone other than you
2. COURAGE to include conflict resolution, seeking out new markets/products, risk profile etc –do you avoid the difficult staff conversations (prickly pears), put off initiating new client contacts, scared to invest/spend, be warned the prickly pears will cause more disruption, and your competitors will swoop and run with the opportunities whilst your financial situation will worsen
3. CONVICTION the ability to focus, generate new horizons, stay positive, motivate, inspire- what/how do you motivate both yourself and your people. Can they look up to you as a role model? Someone that facilitates as opposed to inhibits their performance. Do you have great ideas but lack the conviction to follow through-do you actually believe in yourself-be warned you fool no one but yourself!
4. CONCEPTUAL strategic thinker, simplify your offer, always see your customers as #1, recognise staff as assets Are you able to think with both your right and left brain-can you combine and make sense out of both your logical and intuitive thoughts-be warned your decision making platform will continue to be skewed until such time as you can master this technique
5. CREATIVE discover and act upon new ways, redesign systems, be a market leader not follower. Do you watch everyone else with great ideas and wish you had acted sooner. Do you know what needs to be done in order to create new system? To quote Bill Gates- ‘How you gather, manage and use information will determine whether you win or loose’ Be warned lack of creativity=lack of business growth
What’s the SOLUTION –recognize and seize the offers of help and support that are currently available in your world. Start thinking in terms of Return on Investment (that’s an intuitive and logical thought process) as opposed to investment (there’s that old logical brain taking over and dominating AGAIN)
Seek out a mentor-you heard me, go find, approach and ask someone you admire to mentor you-you will be blown away by the level of support you receive.
Understand that how you choose to deal with ‘it’ has a direct relationship to the outcomes you achieve. You must become self aware as to the image you have created; only you can change this.
The Prickly Pear Reality Check
When a technically gifted individual can’t get along with the rest of his or her team, it forces management to make a tough decision: do we keep this difficult ‘genius’ or get rid of the problem and wear the loss?
I call this kind of person a ‘prickly pear’. He or she controls mission-critical information which affords a knowledge power base for the individual, however poor interpersonal skills create communication blockages and relationship breakdowns which drive co-workers crazy.
So as the Business Leader/Owner, you need to decide-do you invest in this person, by way of training/coaching (often a QUALIFIED external resource will achieve the greatest amount of cut-through) or do you cut your losses and start planning their exit strategy and subsequent replacement..
If you opt for the take no-action ‘strategy’, your enterprise will be damaged and affected in the following ways-
Productivity and profitability will be negatively impacted, as the ‘Prickly Pear’ does not and will not engage with other team members. Communication blockages foster negative results, and as such their repeated use can and often do cause permanent damage to team relationships.
As we have already established, knowledge and the retention of same has become a power base for your Prickly Pear, therefore it is highly unlikely that they will delegate any MEANINGFUL work as this would ( in their eyes) weaken their status and position.
Often in an attempt to retain their knowledge, and sometimes sadly to move them away from others, Prickly Pears find themselves promoted to some type of Management role-however their stark lack of Leadership qualities which are inextricably linked to their interpersonal skills will produce either passive/defensive or aggressive/defensive attitudes and behaviours towards development of others. Be warned, you will lose good quality people when this type of roadblock becomes ‘culture’.
Team work will become stifled as your ‘High and Mighty’ expects/demands that others in the team recognise their true brilliance and superiority and therefore afford them some form of personal privilege. In reality, this type of behaviour is mere smoke and mirrors, in an attempt to cover up their fears that they do not measure up.
If you determine the prickly pear delivers unique value to your organisation, and therefore you would prefer to keep them, you must take action and develop a deliberate strategy in order to resolve the situation.
The first step is to determine whether the issues stem from a skill or behavioural platform, does the person actually know/are they aware of the image and impact they are having on others.
In order to help them discover and learn about themselves I am often asked to conduct 360 degree surveys/debriefs, in particular I favour Human Synergistics Management Impact, as this instrument provides measured and meaningful data. The information provided in these surveys is invaluable as most managers are unaware how their behaviour is perceived and interpreted by others. This becomes their reality check!
Providing feedback by way of de-briefing the survey results will allow your Prickly Pear to see their Management Effectiveness in terms of task, people and personal effectiveness. Their Impact on Others-how often do they currently encourage or require their people to behave in a constructive fashion. And most importantly, their Management Approach-do they facilitate or inhibit good performance in others.
Once you are able to establish the gap between current and desired effectiveness with your Prickly Pear, you have taken the first and vital step forward in motivating their change and development.
Their facilitating approach will reveal the focus they currently have (or do not have) on maximizing the autonomy of their staff by removing obstacles and creating opportunities for them to experiment and improve.
Their inhibiting approach will see them over controlling their people and their work by maintaining or (worse) creating barriers that either discourage or prevent people from taking initiative, trying new things and integrating their activities with those of other people and units.
Clearly you can’t simply tell someone to behave differently and expect that they will follow. Change requires many reinforces before the ‘new way of doing’ becomes an established habit of mind. This is best done gradually and systematically.
If you want the new and improved behaviour to continue, you must make sure that the reinforces that you choose are recognizable to your Prickly Pear, otherwise they will quickly snap back to their former ways, and you will once again find yourself asking the question- do we keep this difficult ‘genius’ or get rid of the problem and wear the loss?
