I have read and reread Jim Collins book ‘Good to Great’. The information that he presented regarding the Intersection of Three Circles is a very novel idea for a business.

For those of you who have not read this book… (please do), here are the basics of the Hedgehog concept
I feel lucky when I get to…
Identify something that you have God given talent (or genetically encoded) for…
And, I can make money doing…

Now you may notice that I have put a personal spin on the above versus having a business spin. Well that was on purpose.

If you take the above three items and write down on a separate piece of paper the answer to each of those questions… you will start learning something about yourself.

Heck ask your friends or business colleagues to add to each of the lists.

After time for reflection on what you wrote down on each list. Try to craft a position, a job, and even more importantly, a life around the intersection of those three questions.

You will be good at your job, you will like your job… and heck you will even get paid for it!

Additional steps to becoming a great leader are coming…

How important and valued is recognition to ALL employees?  Just completed a class on team building using the DISC reports to show how people are different and how critical it is to HONOR the differences.  Had almost 100 broken up into several classes so the mix was really unique.  Ninety five percent of the class members were wage roll employees, not salaried so you better be ready for some tough feedback.

As we conducted several breakouts, I watch to see who leads the breakouts and who participates without being asked.  ALWAYS, I repeat, ALWAYS the D’s in the group will grab the marker and take over.  I then coax some others to take the lead.  Difficult but can be effective.

As we got to the last breakout of the class, one individual who had hung back the entire time suddenly stepped up and took the marker.  He led the discussion like a pro- asked questions, recorded responses with clarity, looked the speaker in the eye, etc.  I was awed by his expertise.

Soon after the class ended and I asked him to stay over.  He very quietly walked up (C) and spoke very quietly.  I commended him on the fantastic job he had done and asked whether he had any classes on facilitation.  I noticed him look away as he said he had not.  Then I noticed that tears were rolling down his checks.  I immediately stopped the conversation.  He was so overwhelmed by someone saying something complementary to him that he could not control his emotions!  I had a hard time controlling mine then!  Both of us will never forget the brief conversation.

Never pass up the opportunity to commend someone who has done something you would like to see repeated.

Unlocking the economic value of your employees.

This is not about how many units of production, or how many service calls or how many times the employee did wha i pay him/her to do. This is about unlocking of the knowledge and abilities of the people who come to work every day, do their job and then go home with all the unused capacity. This under utilized capacity is there for the asking, but requires you to do something first.

When you have done things to show that you value the person, the most outrageous employee is often the most valuable in terms of business improvement. The employee who challenges the leadership in public is most likely to be the one who understands our business and knows in his mind that we can be better.

His mantra is “in spite of this we make money”. Almost any change in the way we do business helps to make his day to day job easier.

Who is the only expert on any job? Most likely it is not the college educated person we pay the big bucks to. It is the person who does that job every day. Unleashing this gold mine is simple but difficult.

The secret- ASK!

“But I have asked many times.” How many times did you do anything with the information? This past week saw a very outspoken employee come up with an idea that will generate cost savings 10X his annual salary. We valued him. He told us his idea, we acted, fought the Engineer for him and he proudly told the division President about his idea and how much money it would mean.

ASK ME! I would love to tell you how to protect my job by being more efficient.

The ‘rules of engagement’ or ‘the code’ or ‘the unwritten rules’ or how about just common courtesy…

When you run a meeting do you have a set of ground rules that everyone must abide?

For example…

Only one person talks at a time.   Or, no one can talk more than 1 minute and then some one else has to speak.

Setting up the ground rules lets everyone communicate.  What happens if you have a slow talker or someone does not like to talk?  What do you do about these folks?

As an informed leader, you need to understand the make up of your team so that you can make sure that everyone’s opinion is represented during the team discussion.

The next time you sit in a meeting take a look around and watch the dynamics in the room.  Is everyone participating and actively engaged?  If not, try to figure out why.

Then develop a code of conduct that will make sure that everyone is engaged and participating.

Recently I was challenged by Don to simply say ‘Thank You’ when someone gives me a compliment.

He told me that he has heard me on numerous occasions that I always try to defer the compliment by giving a bunch of reasons why I was NOT the reason nor deserving of the compliment.

For example, I was helping a team improve the overall yield (how much material was made correctly from the raw materials).  I provided consulting to the team and even some engineering at times.  I acted as the leader when needed but I really tried to make sure that each member of the team had a chance to flex their leadership muscle so that they could develop into great leaders.

The compliment I received was ‘We could not have made that improvement without your services.”

My original response was “Thank you but… it really was the team that made it happen.  They worked long hours and attacked the goal head-on…”, etc.

I really believe that the team was the reason.  Yes, I did help but no more than anyone else on the team.

Don’s coaching comments were “You don’t let people give you compliments and feel good about giving you a compliment.  You always have a reason on why it is not you.  Break this habit.”

So for the last couple weeks, I have been taking compliments and only saying “Thank you’ with no caveats or if’s and but’s.  It has been hard.

Thanks Don for helping me develop into a leader.

How will you Coach your new employee? What will you ask of him/her? Are they capable of doing it? Do they fit the job they have been hired to do?

DISC reports are very thorough, but for them to be useful to the hiring company, you must know what the job entails. If the job could speak what would it say? Remember that DISC only tells HOW the employee will respond to the task. The closer the person and the job match, the more successful they will be. High D’s like to make decisions and be in a highly visible leadership role. Put them in a room by themselves and they will retire in place- if you can even keep them in the room!

As you Coach the high C, put them in the room. They are thrilled to work on projects alone, in a private area with no interruptions and very explicit rules to follow.

Placing these people in the wrong roles leads to absenteeism, possible drug use and eventually they will leave or you will fire them. In spite of all the costs you have incurred, you have lost of some of your self esteem as a leader by making poor hiring decisions. Use the DISC and PIAV as a hiring tool. You will make yourself successful and contribute to the success of others. Hiring the right people makes you a great leader.

An informed leader knows how to hire the right people using DISC and PIAV. Take 20 minutes and complete one on line.

Coaching impact on the family is sometime not recognized. Was called to help a manager who was not accomplishing things that their boss the President of the company needed done. I spent several hours and several sessions both face to face and on the phone with the individual.

I did not establish the first rule of coaching-do you want to change? Essentially the manager even at times almost in tears, felt that he didn’t want to change, liked the way he was and let things fall where they may.

Always a part of coaching is creating life balance. He did not help his wife with the two small twin boys. She also worked full time outside the home, but he saw no reason to help her out. After several discussions about this, he agreed to try to improve in the home life area by sharing household chores and being home more often. He reported back to me that his marriage was much improved even as he joked “we haven’t made much progress at work have we?”

Long story short, I could not help the manager in his professional life and he began seeking other employment. He left the company but we were still friends and he stayed in contact. The president of the company and I both felt we had failed him. End of story- we thought. Ran into his wife a few months later. With trepidation, I approached her and we began talking about him and what had happened. Suddenly, out of the blue she said “I know that your coaching did not save my husband’s job, but you saved our marriage. Thank you for that.”

I called the president of the company the next day and told her the story. She almost cried. That was the best money I ever spent then, she said.

What are you asking of your new employee? If you are responsible for their leadership development, take coaching them serious.

DISC reports are very thorough, but for them to be useful to the hiring company, they must know what the job entails. Remember, DISC only measures HOW a person will respond to the tasks. The closer the person is matched to what they like to do and HOW they want to accomplish the task the more productive they will be. High D’s like to make decisions. Put them in a room by themselves with no one to lead and they will either dry up, leave or retire in place.
On the other side of the coin, the high C is thrilled to work on projects alone, in a private area with no interruptions with many rules. Placing these people in the wrong job leads to absenteeism, possible drug use and eventually they will leave and you have to pay for another new hire. You also have done them an injustice by giving them a stop on their career that will be seen as a failure in their eyes.
Match people to the job. You should be able to see what successful people in this role do. How much interaction is necessary? How much time is spend assembling and interpreting data? Do they have to work on routine items each day? Do they have to solve many problems at the same time.
Again, DISC tells you HOW the person would like to accomplish the job tasks. Give them the best chance of being successful by placing them in the proper role based on FACT!

This is not pigeon holeing people. It is putting them where they have the most likely chance of success. EAch of us has certain God given talents. The earlier you recognize these in yourself by using the DISC, the more of your life will be spent on “acting natural”.

Just got off a coaching call with a wage roll employee that his company values him enough to pay for the service. He was the most outspoken, arrogant, untrusting person in the plant. Every meeting with management, he did everything possible to disrupt the meeting and question the leadership in public. His decision was essentially learn how to play with others or you can look for a new job after 18 years with the company. When we got the results from his DISC, it was obvious. The employee was driving, ambitious, pessimistic, impatient and exacting. We did a 360 with his peers and he ranked lowest in accepts feedback and role model for others.
Why did his supervisor put up with this? He was the most technically competent operator in the plant. He just had no patience with others? Couldn’t tolerate their slowness and did it himself.
We did not want to lose him. What kind of leadership coaching could we give him that would work?  We sat down and reviewed his DISC and 360 feedback and told him if he wanted to be considered for a senior operator job, he had to work with people. We explained how to communicate with different styles of people and how to recognize them. Within a week, he asked others opinion. At first they just stared at him. Now they believe he is sincere and are helping him work on a project to make their job easier.
Without the DISC tools as coaching data, we could not have salvaged this valuable employee.  He has recently been awarded the site senior operator job!  He has gone from one foot out the door to our most valuable leader on that shift. 

I was doing a DISC Triad this week with a client who always completes one with everyone who comes to work for her in the first 2-3 weeks.  This is simply to sit down together with a certified DISC trained third party, exchange reports and review each section.  As we review them, we ask “which ones do you think in each section are most critical to your sucess”?  The manager then knows how to lead this person.  How best to teach Leadership Coaching, than to honor the differences.  Unless we know how to recognize different styles, how can we honor them?

The do’s and don’t’s of communication are always the highlight of  the session.  What is a “do” to one party is often a “don’t” to the other.  For example one person’s report said “make an organized presentation and stick to the agenda” while the other said “leave time for relating and socializing”.  This is a great way to teach the DISC profile tools and how we communicate as WE like to be communicated to instead of how the other person likes to be communicated with. 

When we have a new employee, we can try trial and error for the first few months or sit down together with a facilitator and read each other’s DISC profile.  I then know how to adapt a leadership or coaching style that has your full attention.  This is also the most efficient way to run a business. 

One of the largest Personnel placement agencies in the world surveys more than a 100,000 people every year to determine success factors. Year after year, they get the following responses.
There are really only three things that are critical to my success in any new job.
I have the tools I need in good working order is the first.
I am not a mechanic, why do I need tools?
Tools for any job require things such as procedures, desk, computer, phone, map of work area, how to get support, etc. Many people are put in jobs without these basic essentials.
Many companies drive employees away by not providing the most simple of things.
The second most important to my success is to KNOW WHAT MY JOB IS.
Really simple isn’t it! Business often spend thousands of dollars finding the right person for the job and then ignore them as soon as they are in place. Give me my job description, goals, measurable, and when I can expect to get feedback on how I am doing. I shouldn’t have to ask.
The third and last thing I need to get my job done is feedback. This feedback should occur regularly and in a standard format that ties to our department goals and how I am impacting them with my performance.
Using DISC, all three of these can be satisfied.

Recently I held an interview with a prospective client who is the Senior VP of Operations for an $8B corporation.

An associate and I were trying to convince him that even though we were small, we could give them the service to help them meet their goals quicker than doing it with their current tools. After sharing our success with him, he very adamantly stated that the results were in manufacturing and what did that have to do with their business?

He was quick to tell us how busy he was that they were engaged in the annual capital plan meeting and was not in a very good mood. Since Cost of Poor quality was only good for manufacturing, how could that metric be useful to them?

What are your goals for next year? To double the stock price, he answered.

How do the employees impact the stock price?

How does this capital plan meeting impact the stock price?

How do you measure the success of the meeting?

How do you accomplish the goals of the meeting without rework, waste and downtime?

What are the critical four to six measures that all capital spending should be measured against? Were you using a Priortization matrix (also known as a Cause and Effect Matrix or Decision Matrix) to decide which projects to fund?

Did everyone in the meeting understand what these critical few were?

After we had prioritized the list of capital appropriations, did we know how to use a FMEA (Failure Modes and Effects Analysis) to see how likely we were to accomplish the goals of the appropriations?

No, the goal is not to spend all the money on time and account for all of it!

If we were not going to meet the financials promised by the job, did we have an alternate plan to make the numbers with other capital opportunities? Was someone accountable for the results? Was it baked into the operations plan?

After hearing the questions, the VP could only respond. The Prioritization matrix and FMEA do not apply to a non manufactureing environment.

This is not about how many units of production, or how many service calls or how many times the employee did what I pay him/her to do. This is about the unlocking of the knowledge and abilities of the people who come to work every day, do their job and then go home with all the unused capacity. This under utilized capacity is there for the asking, but requires you to do something first.

When you have done things to show that you value the person, the most outrageous employee is often the most valuable in terms of business improvement. The employee that challenges the leadership in public is most likely to be the one who understands our business and knows in his mind that we can be better. His mantra is “in spite of this we make money“. Almost any change in the way we do business helps to make his day to day job easier.

Who is the only expert on any job? Most likely it is not the college educated person we pay the big bucks to. It is the person who does that job every day. Unleashing this gold mine is simple but difficult.

The secret- ASK!

“But I have asked many times.” How many times did you do something with the information? This past week saw a very outspoken employee come up with an idea that will generate cost savings 10X his annual salary!

We valued him. He told us his idea, we acted, fought the Engineer for him (let’s try anyway) and he proudly told the President of our division about his idea and how much money it would mean.

ASK ME! I would love to tell you how to protect my job by being more efficient.

Recently, we received a request from a local school for some much needed supplies. The school (private) as a classroom project was teaching the students how to write letters and benefit the school at the same time (love efficiency!). This was a rather mundane thing that passed my desk.

The opportunity was this child belonged to one of my most outspoken critics on the plant floor. Maybe this was the opportunity I had been looking for. This employee was technically the most competent, but attitude was horrible.

To make a long story short, I approached the employee about what was needed and why. He was not sure I was sincere and it took some convincing to show him that the company would provide the needed supplies if he would accompany me to the school to present them. He agreed.

When we contacted the school they were so pleased that they wanted to do the presentation in front of the entire student body (500) . I had planned on doing the speaking, but kidded with the employee and told him “it is your idea, you can make the presentation”.

He did the presentation of the supplies. We gave the kids a framed certificate. They were the only ones in the class that even received a response from any local company contacted. Their dad was a hero in their eyes. His son was the envy of his classmates with his “framed certificate”. His dad was the envy of his classmates.

Although this did not enter our minds at the time we did this, we had an incident at the plant that made the local papers a few months before. How much good did we do with the 500 families represented in the audience to improve our company image.

Don

The other day I was working with a Manager who has continuously demonstrated to the workforce that he wants them to have control of their own destiny. He has supported this workforce with training, leadership development skills, and defined metrics or criteria for success.

Yet his workforce still does not fully trust him.

Here is a recent scenario. He has decided to change the schedule of the call center employees.

After collecting several months of data, he came to realize that most calls were coming in on Mondays and Tuesdays during day time hours. Currently the workforce has a 24 x7 rotating shift schedule. One of the perks is a 7 day break for the workforce.

So, he showed each of the employees the data. He told him he wanted 7 day coverage for 12 hour days. It was obvious from the data that this was the best solution. Then he told them that he wanted them to design the schedule. His criteria:

a) Cost neutral to both the employee and the company

b) Easy to manage (knows who is supposed to be on and who is supposed to be off)

c) 7 days covered and 12 hours covered

It was unbelievable the response that he received.

They hated the idea. Some of the employees felt that he was trying to take away their seven day break. Others had side jobs and felt that the new schedule would not allow this continue. They cried, they wined, they felt he was putting the screws to them.

Well, this went on for four days. The manager could not go into the call center area without a hush falling over the place. He knew something was up. And he was upset about it. He received some feedback from some of his lieutenants about the employees’ issues.

So here is what he did.

He took 15 minutes and created three shift schedules.

Schedule 1: It was exactly like the employees thought it would be. Two days on two days off, three days on three days off. Working two weekends a month. It was cost neutral to the company and the employee. It was simple to manage because there were only two groups or shifts of employees that went through the schedule. No seven day breaks.

Schedule 2: Difficult to explain but it split the two groups into four groups (which was previously assumed to be a constraint.) This new schedule gave the employees six days off in a row and another 5 days off in a row. However, it required them to work 7 days in a row… which is tough. Again cost neutral… but a little more difficult to manage because there were four groups to manage instead of two. Required the teams to work two weekends a month

Schedule 3: Again difficult to explain but in this schedule, more people worked on Monday and Tuesdays. Only one person worked on Saturday and Sunday. And since there were four groups, that meant a person only had to work one weekend a month. Also, they got seven days off in a row. The longest number of working days in a row was four which was exactly what they had in their current schedule. Finally, it was cost neutral to the employee and to the company. Plus it was all day work… no more switching shifts from nights to days to nights.

He walked into the call center and gathered several of the employees around to review the schedule. He took them through each one. Everyone groaned after seeing the first schedule. His comment… yes I thought it sucked too… but it would be easy to manage.

He took them through the next two schedules and he could hardly get done with the third before people were saying that schedule was great. They thought it was awesome. People outside of the department wanted to move to that schedule!

He explained to them that it met all of the criteria laid out. And commented that it took him about 15 minutes to lay out the three schedules.

Guess what he did next.

He took the piece of paper he had everything written on…

And crumbled it up and stuck in his pocket.

Everyone gasped and said how can we explain what you came up with to the other people on the next shift?

‘Easy’ was his reply.

Figure out your own schedule like I asked in the first place.

He walked away knowing that he could walk back into the call center at anytime and the low hum of chatter and laughter would be back.

After many months of thinking about reorganizing a company, you start to role out your plan to your top lieutenants.

After the warm reception from your first conversation, you figure the next couple will be equally as easy.  Considering that each of these folks are getting a promotion (including more money… not just a title), you start to feel proud of yourself.

Then BAM!  A train wreck occurs.

During your next conversation with a star employee, she tells you sorry, I am not interested in the position that you are offering.  She’s not hostile.  Just very direct.  She also hints that if she is ‘forced’ to take the new role, she will leave the company.  She knows that you know that the company would take a hit if she leaves the company.

What do you do?

Well here are a couple things to take into consideration.

a)  There is never a ‘kept secret’ in any company.  If you let her have her way (regardless of how you rationalize it to yourself), it will get around to the rest of the workforce.  Guess who the new leader is now?

b)   Consider where YOU went wrong in the assessment.  How did you get to this place where you misread her needs?  Maybe you don’t understand what her values are?  Maybe you thought money and power were important to her… maybe she is actually happy with the type of sanctification (or flexibility) that her current work provides her.

c)  Remember no one person is bigger than the company.  Let her go.  I still remember this little story after leaving my first job for a promotion within the company.

A superior of mine that I had the greatest respect for stood and gave a small speech at my going away party.  I had worked with this individual for over five years and learned a great deal from him.  I thought that I had made it look good (and I was happy to do it) during my tenure at the location.  This is what he said… ‘Michael has been a great asset for our business during the last five years.  He has grown and developed as a leader.  With that being said, after two weeks, it will be like Michael was never on our plant site.’

I was floored.  I was sad.  I almost dropped my drink.  The people around me weren’t.  I felt terrible.  I approached him towards the end of the night after I was able to gain enough courage and asked him why he said what he said.  He smiled and told me that it was a compliment.

I could not figure out how that was a compliment until he explained.  He said ‘Michael, usually when I stand up here and give this speech, I tell people it usually takes only TWO DAYS before it was like the person was never here before.  Whereas for you, it will probably be two weeks.’

He then continued to tell me that the place was going to continue to satisfy customers because of systems that I had put in place and because of the people that remained.

This was the greatest lesson that I ever learned in my career. Think of this way, if the company truly failed after you left, you may have been a great task master, but you were not a great leader or developer of people.

One key to becoming a great leader is understanding what motivates (and what motivates other people.)  Money is not the only motivator in life!  But that’s a post for another day.

Here is a simple exercise to better understand your motivations…

If you found right now that you had 100 millions dollars (in other words money was no longer a concern) and you had 10 years left to live, what would you do.

Maybe I should ask ‘What would start doing and What would stop doing?’

Take a couple days to do this and then come back to it.  Do you see any general trends?

Is more about people or more about things?  Is it more about going places or more about leaving a legacy?

You will be able to start to shape what you are really all about it.  You will start to understand what motivates you and inspires you.

Remember, everyone can become a leader.  They just have to figure out what field they want to become a leader in.  This simple exercise will help you find your area.

Get a piece of paper and write these things down.

Heck, post a comment on our blog about it.

One of the biggest things that can change an organization is enforcing the use of data in every conversation.

If you as a leader, ignore the ‘I think…’ or ‘I remember when…’ or ‘We already tried that…’ comments.

And, at the same time, recognize people who start the debate with ‘The data shows… ‘ or ‘I used the Pareto Principle to…’ or ‘Statistically it appears that…’

You will completely change an organization.  The people who considered themselves in power just because of tenure may find themselves with an internal struggle and resentment towards you as the new leaders.

While others (typically newer people to the organization) or the lower ranking people love this approach.

Why?

Data levels the playing field.  If a union worker or the new guy comes in and explains to everyone that the data shows this… and the Leader listens, very quickly this person gains credibility with the workforce.

This simple change mechanism is greater than any Six Sigma initiative, Kaizen Event, Lean Manufacturing team, or any other Change Management program of the month.

Committing the organization to use data in every single decision will quickly drive change throughout the organization.

And the best thing about this approach - chances are you are going to be able to make the right decisions because you have the data in front of you that clearly illustrates what to do.

Leadership… it really is easy.

Just kidding.

As previously mentioned, we have assessments that help you understand what your values are.  Remember that values are the reasons why you do the thing you do.

For example, some people may grow roses to sell them whereas other people grow them for the beautification of their garden.  Two different values - utilitarian (money) and aesthetics (beauty).

Sometimes a client will ask - ‘Can will my values change over time?’

My answer to this is:  NO.

To be honest, I still have a hard time believing this answer.

But my own data proved me wrong.  Here is some background into my story.

Over the last ten years, I have taken this Values assessment a total of five times.  I do it about every other year (secretly hoping that it would change.)  During these past ten years, I have had three kids, worked in four different jobs, moved two times, had a parent die, completed an executive MBA, and oh yeah - had cancer.

So, I figured that there would be some sort of change in my values.  Personally, I thought that my values would shift more to a ‘family’ basis given all of the turmoil that I have been through in the last ten years.  It did not happen.  There was no statistically significant difference in the results.

Now, I guess one could say that the assessment is somehow flawed.  It does not actually measure what it should measure.  Well, considering that the results that I have received are dead nuts on and have been for the last ten years.  I can’t really say that is the case.

In addition, I have had many close people to me validate the results.  They say - Yes that is you.

I am certain that every rule has its exception.  But I am not that exception.

You need to understand what your values (and what your employee’s values) are so that you can put the right plans in place to develop yourself and develop them.  Knowing their values will give you some hints on how to motivate these people.

Interested in a Value’s Assessment?  Drop me an email at michael (at) informedleaders (dot) com

Are you able to keep your end of the bargain?

Are you able to look someone in the face and tell them bad news?

Recently, one of our clients had to deliver some bad news about a terminated employee (see previous posts.)  It is my understanding that her company does not allow the manager (or any management) to discuss the specifics of any employee disciplinary action.

I completely agree with this approach.  I do not believe that details of disciplinary action should be discussed.

But here is one for you to think about…

The manager was giving a presentation about the current performance of the business.  At the conclusion of this meeting, an employee asked about the cost reductions and headcount plans.  So the dance began between the manager and the employee.

The manager gave a general statement that cost cuts were expected and that headcount would be impacted eventually.

The rebuttal statement from the audience member was ‘What about the employee that hasn’t been at work the last three days.  What happened?  Does he impact headcount?’

Now there are several ways the manager could answer this question.

1. Not say anything about the termination, while realizing that there was a chance that the audience already knew about the termination.
2. Dance around the subject by making general claims about overall cost reductions, etc.
3. Answer the question directly.

Well, her response was ‘John Doe was terminated yesterday.  His headcount number will be taken into consideration in overall organizational development plan.  We are sorry that it came to this point with John; however, there were never any surprises in this situation.  As a general rule, no one should ever be surprised with where they stand with regards to their performance.  If you have any question about how your performance is viewed by the Company, ask me or ask your immediate manager for details.’

Gutsy thing for her to do.

The feedback that she received from several employees…

Thank you for being honest with us.  Thank you for being consistent.  Thank you for holding up your end of the bargain.

This situation was unfortunate.  However, the way the situation was handled made me proud.  We have worked with her for the last 7 months on accountability and consistency of message.  She just earned her pay two times over with that simple exchange with the audience.  Sure people will be hurt about losing John Doe.

However, she will continue to gain their trust and respect because they will always know where they stand with her with regards to performance.

Someone asked me to give them the silver bullet for becoming a great leader. Well here it is…

• Know yourself - understand your strengths and weaknesses. Capitalize on your strengths and find someone that can help you with your weaknesses.
• Prioritize what it is truly important (this can be in life, work, or whatever you are working on) with solid reasoning (data really helps in this area!)
• Know how to communicate to all different styles of people (you need to be the one to adapt) your vision so that you can be held accountable by them and you can hold them accountable.
• Develop a metric to gage your progress
• Be consistent with all of the above.

You don’t have to be glamorous. You don’t have to be brilliant. You don’t have to be a political tyrant.

You just do those things above… and you will be able to lead a team to greatness.

That’s how easy it is.

Don’t agree… please add some comments.

Its funny.

Over the last two years that I have been working with this client, I have started to see some changes in his business.

Business metrics improving.

People starting to talk about issues with data and directness. No more political stuff.
People holding people accountable.

This last one is being driven by him and his business team. The Director of Human Resources made a comment to him that he relayed to me.

He explained to me that he told his HR person that he was concerned about the number of people being fired. Yes, he said it. During his short tenure of 25 months, he had to fire three people and he just had two more that came under disciplinary review.

His frustration (or maybe concern) was because he did not want to be seen as a dictator or hatchet person. Now, here is what is interesting. The HR Director’s response.

You are the first person to hold people accountable in the facility. In addition, you are the first person to require documentation of all disciplinary actions. Everything is documented with you. You collect and now have the data.

Do you really think that people did not screw up before? Of course they did. They just were not held accountable. And if they were, documentation was hardly ever used.

So now… these same people are being held accountable. They are given corrective action plans to follow; retraining; and encouragement to succeed. If they choose the correct path, they continue to grow.

If not, they are corrected again. The people that have been corrected more than five times (which is the case for each of the employees released) do not deserve to be an employee of the company.

Have you raised the bar?

Maybe or maybe not. But you are definitely holding people accountable to the standard that has been set.

I smiled as I listened to him.

He knows he is a good leader. His leadership has developed over the last couple years.

The most crucial piece to making this happen… consistency over time.

As a leader, we want our team to succeed.  I got a phone call today from a manager in a panic.

It took me a few minutes to calm him down.  No screaming or yelling, just frustration in his voice.

Here are the basic details.

Last week, he had to give discipline to a worker that had several mistakes over the last year.  This person had basically destroyed 5 production lots of material in four different circumstances.   The cost to the business was pushing close to $50,000.

He sat the individual down and got his side of the story for the most recent incident.  Basically, the employee said ‘I got in a hurry (again) and I screwed up.’  The manager pushed trying to figure out if there was a system problem.  But unfortunately there wasn’t.  It was strictly operator error.

So, it was ultimately decided to give this person a ‘last chance warning’.  In addition, the person would have to go through career counseling to try to figure out what the issue behind these repeated errors were.

After giving the individual off a week with no pay, the employee complied and contacted the career coach.

Two days after his suspension, a repeat failure occurred.  The employee walked to his manager and told him.  I know what I did and I am going home.  Please call me when you decide what you are going to do with me.

So, given that the employee has had a rough year at his home and up to this point, he has been a model employee, what do you do with him?

The manager wanted to know my answer.  I think he was looking for an excuse for not doing what we both knew he had to do.

He told me he did not want to have the hard conversation.  He told me, he could not look into the employee’s eyes without thinking about the negative impact this is going to have on his life.

My comment back to him…

“What about the other 200 employees at the site?  Why are you putting this one above all of them?”

Hard conversations are part of leadership.  We have to be fair to the employee, the business, and yourself all at the same time.

At times, this will hurt.  You are human.

Are some people leaders and others not?

There have been many debates on whether leadership is learned or just an integral part of a person.

I would suggest that anyone can be a leader. It just depends upon the area that they have passion.

For example, you may see someone as a leader at your church, but in their job, they are a quiet performer who gets their job done. They don’t want to take the leadership position at work.

Sit down and list the areas where you have a passion.

Know thyself.

I truly believe that anyone can get what they want in life.

The question is how much do you want to pay? And I am not necessarily implying money in this case.

Do you want to become a millionaire overnight? Go rob a bank and hide the money. You will get to be a millionaire but won’t get to enjoy it for 30 or so years.

Want to be a President of your company someday?

Sure it can happen, but are you willing to play the political game; work the extra hours; work weekends; miss Johnny’s baseball game?

You need to understand your values and what is truly important to you. If you are married, you should do the same thing with your spouse. If you and your spouse’s values are not aligned… then the two of you may have a tough time reaching the goals you have set. Which may lead to a sacrifice on some front.

We have some tools that will help you identify the values that are important to you. Drop me an email or post a comment and I will introduce you to these assessments.

Ultimately, understanding your values will help you develop a solid leadership process improvement plan.