Business Leadership Training

I enjoy batting around strategic ideas for the purpose of determining the best path forward.  I like the intellectual exercise of smart people taking an idea apart and examining it from all sides.  The rigor of probing, examining, pushing, testing, confronting – is one of the most exciting and interesting aspects of participating in business leadership.  This exercise is a necessary part of the process of strategic planning.

These discussions aren’t intended to be executive team building sessions.  Their purpose is refining ideas – plain and simple.  While they may provide work satisfaction for those who enjoy the fray, many find the discussions intimidating – the friction that comes from the intellectual wrestling can lead some people to eschew participation.

Strategic idea development conversations are not for the faint of heart.  At their best, they require the participants to be both smart and eloquent.  Ego is a trickier issue.  Participants must have ego enough to voice strong opinions while also not having so much ego as to be defensive of whatever their ideas might be.  The objective of strategic business discussions must be, “What’s the best potential solution to tackle this problem?”  Conversely, it should never be, “Why are you attacking my idea?  Back off!”

As ADVISA’s long time president, I know that at times I’ve been on both the right and wrong sides of those discussions.  I’d like to think that more often than not I’m not just protecting my way of doing things, though I believe that probably has happened.  As the company leader, I’ve got to try to manage myself to assure that the best idea is always in focus.  We all do. 

Being at least somewhat aware of my own failings in that regard, it’s fairly easy to spot defensiveness on the part of others in similar discussions.  The symptoms show when the participant typically stops searching for forward answers but digs in to defend whatever is their position.  Sometimes feelings are hurt.  Coaching folks through the situation and the desired outcome can be challenging, but the results should all be aimed at finding “The Best Idea” – for the discussion at hand and those going forward.

Ego is of real value in generating the ideas that lead to the solutions that drive balanced scorecard metrics.  But, it can also get in the way of delivering those results.  In order to participate, you should be smart, eloquent and have a strong ego that you can control.  

If you’d like help figuring out how to maximize the power of your ideas, give us a call.  We can help.

I trained my 3^rd PI class in the last two years this past week. I had planned on auditing a day of the training until the day before the training began – when our consultant called to say he had a death in the family and wouldn't be able to lead the class. My schedule was clean and I said I’d be happy to pinch hit. I could cover.

A couple months ago we had a similar scenario when another consultant came down with laryngitis the day before he was to begin his class. Frantic calls and a few re-scheduled appointments and our client was taken care of – with the voice-less consultant in back of the class whispering encouragement to his able voiced teammate.

The Values Statement we crafted in our first strategic planning retreat many years ago states among other things, “We will operate as a team - wherever possible helping each other.” While there are times we don’t do as well as we should, it is nice to see that the majority of time, we do pretty well. 

It was also fun to deliver the Predictive Index Management Workshop™ again to a group of working managers. Watching the light bulbs go off in the audience as they saw how they can influence work satisfaction, employee engagement and staff motivation simply by following the leadership training and development that the workshop provides was very rewarding.

Working at Advisa is really a cool way to earn a living - even doing it as President (for a little while longer). 

• Who are your critical dominos if you will?
• What would happen if they fell (left your company)?  
• Who would be impacted by this?  
• How well does your strategic plan account for these instances?  
• How will you communicate the message to all stakeholders inside and outside of the organization?
• How will this impact the people and the families that rely on your company?

1. Win some, lose some? - We've all heard this one.  It's not a bunch of bologna.  (As Bob Wilson reminded me the last time I needed to hear it.)  The sooner we accept it, the better.  One win doesn't make you great and one loss doesn't define you either.  Lick your wounds for a moment, if necessary, and get on with it.
2. Am I a professional? - You are not a professional because YOU view yourself that way.  Instead, it is because OTHERS view you as one.  It is a title that is earned.  It may take a few years to get there.  That's okay.  Don't assume your education makes it a given.  It doesn't.
3. Do I make "it" personal? - If everything is personal, consider assessing your team building skills or enrolling in an employee development program.  You are working diligently in your pursuit of success.  However, you're not the only one with this goal.  And, as much as we'd like there to be something going on other than "they were better at it", it probably is that simple.  If not, you probably won a few via the same means yourself.  See number one.
4. Do I trust no one? - When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail.  People who don't trust anyone are usually not trustworthy themselves.  I'm not saying trust everyone.  Yet, if you feel no one can ever be trusted after sufficient time to get to know them (like members of your own team) ask yourself, "Why?".  It may be because of the fear that they have some of the same tendencies you do.   And, these probably aren't the ones you're proud of.
5. Do I have values that I am committed to? - While most organizations have a set of values that they are committed to and have posted, most of us haven't created these as individuals.  Think about what is important to you.  Lines that you will not cross, even for success.  When faced with difficult situations, or even temptations for "opportunities" that will arise, ask yourself if they hold true to your core values.  It makes the decisions much easier.

Successful leaders exploit opportunities. Much of the effort involved in business strategic planning methods focuses on creating opportunities – but such valuable circumstances can be wasted if leaders don’t quickly exploit them. One of the lessons for business leadership training from the Civil War is to operate with a bias for action in order to make the most of your opportunities when they occur.

This lesson is well-illustrated by three examples from the Civil War:

1.     Northern Failure #1 – McPherson at Snake Creek Gap. On May 9, 1864, US General James B. McPherson, a subordinate commander to Sherman in Georgia, failed to exploit a position deep in the Confederate rear. Successfully flanking Sherman’s Confederate opponents in a brilliant maneuver, McPherson achieved complete surprise with a large force positioned next to the Confederate line of supply. At this point, he allowed his fears to get the best of him and pulled back his forces after a very tentative strike at the exposed and disadvantaged Confederates before him. This failure allowed a major Confederate force to escape almost certain destruction.

2.     Northern Failure #2 – McClellan at Antietam. The famous stroke of fortune that put Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s campaign plans in the hands of US General George McClellan in September, 1862 led to a major opportunity for Northern forces at the Battle of Antietem. With superior forces and full knowledge of his opponent’s plans and locations McClellan failed to inflict maximum impact on his foe. Ever cautious, McClellan delayed the battle until he was fully ready – giving Lee critical time to assemble his separated units. After nearly breaking the Confederates into complete disarray McClellan failed to send a large reserve of fresh troops in to finish the job. This allowed Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia to survive and fight for another 2 ½ years.

3.     Southern Success – Lee & the Second Battle of Bull Run. The opportunity Lee exploited to dramatic effect in August, 1862 (immediately preceding the Antietam campaign) was that US forces in Virginia were badly split. In a move similar in nature to McPherson’s flanking maneuver described above, Stonewall Jackson got behind the US forces and completely destroyed the Northern supply base at Manassas Junction (unlike McPherson’s half-hearted effort). As the Northern Army reacted to Jackson’s position, Lee successfully moved the rest of his forces to route, for the second time, the US Army at the Bull Run battlefield.

Timing is an absolutely crucial element of all these examples. When opportunities arise the need for action is paramount. This is a critical reason that a bias for action, being proactive, is so prized in strategic leadership.

What are the implications of these examples for business strategy? Note that in two of these examples subordinate commanders played key roles – McPherson failed to act, Jackson acted decisively – so the bias for action to exploit opportunities should be present at all levels of leadership.  Identifying and developing such leaders should be a component of employee development programs.

An example from my business life also illustrates the value of exploiting opportunity. When I worked at SC Johnson (now advertising itself as “a Family Company”) we produced the “Edge” brand of shave gel. The foaming gel form of the product was protected by patents and was a key element of its success as a growing business. 

Gillette’s “Foamy” brand of shave preparation was losing share to “Edge” so Gillette decided to violate the “Edge” patent and launch its own foaming gel. The “Edge” team learned of Gillette’s plans, just as McClellan benefited from an intelligence coup, but the “Edge” team fully exploited this advantage. Loading the market with free product immediately before the Gillette launch, the “Edge” team blunted Gillette’s sales opportunity – Gillette’s gel never got off the ground and was quickly discontinued.

Sweet justice was added to the “Edge” team’s marketplace victory when, several years later, Gillette lost a patent infringement case on the foaming gel and had to pay unspecified damages to SC Johnson.

This ADVISA blog series focuses on business strategy lessons from the American Civil War (1861-1865). This series seeks to extract important insights on strategic success that can be applied to business settings based on the experiences and results of the momentous conflict between the US Government and the Confederate States of America (CSA).

Events do not always neatly follow our well-designed strategic plans. Competitors can outmaneuver us and external forces may turn against us. The success of strategic planning requires maintaining flexibility in the face of adversity. One of the lessons from the Civil War is to alter your plans when things go against you – and thereby convert a position of weakness into strength.

This lesson is well-illustrated in General Tecumseh Sherman’s decisions in late 1864, after he had captured Atlanta. The objective of Sherman’s spring and summer campaign in Northern Georgia that year was to destroy the Confederate army opposing him.  Sherman never quite succeeded in this effort.  The Confederate leadership avoided such destruction – although their losses in the campaign eventually left them too weak to directly assault Sherman’s main force.

While Sherman’s capture of Atlanta was rightly heralded as a signal Union victory – it left Sherman with a serious dilemma. Merely holding the city left him a sitting duck for Confederate raids and his long supply line snaking back to Nashville had proven highly susceptible to lightning strikes by Confederate cavalry. What remained of the Confederate infantry, operating in friendly territory, was also too nimble for Sherman to pin down in pitched battle. So staying put risked long-term strangulation but to retreat and give up Atlanta was politically unacceptable.

Sherman’s decision to give up Atlanta – after destroying everything in it of military value (and most of the civilian structures, too) – and move FORWARD through Georgia to Savannah proved a winning strategy. Sherman’s “March to the Sea” destroyed a considerable portion of the Confederacy’s ability to continue the conflict and was a key element of the strategic endgame that eventually led to the war’s conclusion.

What are the implications of this example for business strategy? Opportunistic changes in tactics or interim goals should always be a component of your strategic planning methods – particularly when the strategic landscape may easily shift. Constant development of multiple options is the duty of an organization’s strategic leaders.  Instilling this discipline should be a core component of your leadership and management training.  

Nimbly shifting to a new direction can create a dramatic turnaround even when the outlook is grim.

This ADVISA blog series focuses on business strategy lessons from the American Civil War (1861-1865). This series seeks to extract important insights on strategic success that can be applied to business settings based on the experiences and results of the momentous conflict between the US Government and the Confederate States of America (CSA).

There’s no question that companies have had to ask all their employees to do more with less. The question is, “What toll is that overwork taking on employees, organizations and society and what can you do about it?” 

 This column in the May 22^nd – 28^th issue of the Economist cites a group of important statistics from a number of different surveys that point to some very startling work realities:

• The average “job footprint” (what a worker is expected to do) has increased by a third since the beginning of the recession.
• Two-thirds of workers are reporting that they are putting in unpaid overtime.
• 63% of workers say that their employers do not appreciate their extra effort.
• 57% of workers feel that they are treated like dispensable commodities.
• The proportion of workers that are willing to put in “discretionary effort” has dropped by almost half since 2007, while the share of workers who claim that they are “disengaged” from their jobs has risen from a tenth to a fifth.
• 59% of workers are either considering leaving or are actively looking for a new job, and more than 85% of those who are not in the job market are staying only because that market is so dismal.

If you are interested in combating the negative effects of “overwork” in your organization, consider the following interventions. 

So much can be solved with two simple words - I'm sorry. OK, so technically it's 3 words if you don't count the contraction as a single word, but still, the premise is the same. In all relationships, personal and professional, sometimes saying I'm sorry isn't only satisfactory, it heals. Why then, is it so hard to say?

I recently faced the disintegration of a personal relationship simply because the words could not be spoken. Similarly, professional relationships can be destroyed because we can't say "I'm sorry" to a client. In fact, often the professional relationship is that much easier to sever, and that much harder to repair. 

Perhaps it's because we feel we are admitting that we did something wrong , something most of us don't like to do. But, as was pointed out to me while discussing the ending friendship, an apology doesn't always mean you were wrong - sometimes it's just taking responsibility for hurting someone, however unintentionally.

A study of the University of Michigan Health System found that malpractice suits were halved after discontinuing the policy to not apologize to patients. It's amazing that a genuine apology can diffuse anger. Studies tell us it's easier to keep an existing client than to land a new one. How easy would it be to honestly say "I'm sorry" if you knew you were about to lose one of those existing clients?

 So when we are training sales people and managers, should the art of a sincere apology be part of the sales training curriculum? The same could be said for any business leadership training. Especially now, keeping existing customers is just as important as winning new ones.

Back in early March I blogged about the possibility that the economic spring was here.  As of now, I firmly believe it is – at least for us.  But, for us, it’s more than economic spring.  While the economy seems to be turning, a big part of our success is the result of the solid performance of two of our more recently minted consultants – Aszure Grimes and Chris Pauwels.  We wouldn’t be doing as well as we’re doing if their performance wasn’t as strong as it is.  They’ve become a big part of our organization’s economic recovery and my personal work satisfaction.

Jay Hawreluk, John Ranalletta, and Todd Gross have alternated winning our MVP performance award each of the last three years.  Once again, they are each ranked at or near the top in many of our performance measures.  What’s new this year is that for the first time Aszure and Chris have risen to several of the top two slots in our most important dashboard items alongside our most senior folks.  It’s not that our senior consultants are losing their touch.  They’re all having good years.  It’s that our more recent additions are performing at the levels of our best folks – and that’s very exciting news for all of us at Advisa.

If you’ve not met her, Aszure came up through our Advisa Hiring business in a sales role.  After learning the nuts and bolts of our PI® business from that vantage point, she got promoted a little over a year ago into a consultant role.  She’s smart, charismatic, and has gone through all of our consulting and sales process training with flying colors.  Her clients have begun to see the value she brings to them and her balanced scorecard metrics have demonstrated exactly that.

Chris came from a career in manufacturing leadership and started with us on our consultant track from the beginning.  He had to learn selling, consulting, Predictive Index® and all the rest of our services from scratch – a lot to learn.  Working out of west Michigan, he’s also been faced with a very tough economic climate.  Since January he’s been able to improve his sales skills and consulting skills to either be at the head of our pack or very near it in new business development every month. 

Based on what our clients are saying, I believe the economic spring is either here or very close.  Based on the stellar work of Aszure and Chris, I think our economic spring is definitely here.    

Heather Haas was put in place to succeed me as the President of Advisa about two years ago.  She’s currently COO and will take over the role of CEO and President in January of 2012.  I asked her to succeed me because she’s smart, works hard, thinks in some of the same ways I do and most importantly, she’s a natural leader.  I’ve seen her in a variety of situations take control, diffuse conflict, demand results, cajole, push, apologize, motivate – in short, all of those things that leaders need to do.  This past Wednesday afternoon she did something I would have predicted she would do – because I know her so well.  Even though it was out of the ordinary.  She led.  Naturally. 

Here’s what happened.

She and her husband Matt were picking their daughter up from swim lessons at the local high school.  She looked up and saw a man covered in flames – burning from head to toe.  She immediately handed Matt her youngest daughter and ran toward the man yelling back to Matt, “Call 911”.  As she got closer to the screaming, flaming, flailing man, she saw the source of the conflagration – his riding lawn mower.  It was 10 feet or so away from him - obviously having exploded.  She yelled to the screaming man, “Get on the ground and roll!  Roll!  It will put the fire out!”  He did.  Heather took her jean jacket off and started beating the flames on the man as the mower spouted more fire.  Matt ran up (the kids were in the hands of another mom and the 911 call had been made) and used the kids’ backpack to help.  They got the fire out and stayed with the very badly burned man trying to comfort him until ambulances and fire trucks came and carted him away.  Police and fire crews questioned them both for some time and finally they were told they could leave.   Matt took the kids home and Heather came back to work.  She was shaken.  She’d never seen a situation like that.  Yet, she knew what to do.  She acted.  And did her best to save the man’s life (sadly, he died of an infection on Saturday).

Another thing to consider:  Heather is 5 months pregnant with the Haas’ 3rd child.

Here’s what the local TV station had to say:  News Story 

Firemen are trained to do what Heather did.  Average people don’t know what to do.  Leadership development courses wouldn’t help most of us in that moment of crisis.  Management skills training wouldn’t take you there.  We either act and lead or we don’t.  The kind of leadership Heather displayed is something she was born with.  It’s there or it isn’t.  With Heather, it is.  I’ve seen it.

At Advisa, we augment leadership skills with leadership and management training – that’s our business.  We believe we truly do help people lead better.  But, Heather has a special something that makes her different.  She’s a natural leader.  And Advisa is lucky to have her.  

Ahhh...now that is a scary question for some, isn't it?  The economy has required all of us to work a little harder and raise our expectations.  It's understandable and part of staying afloat.  Yet, during tough economic times, the importance of motivation can slip from the radar.  We can tend to forget that our employees need to be engaged in their roles at our organization.  We can forget that job satisfaction has a lot to do with productivity.  While the options of our staff may be limited now, we know that will not always be the case.  When the economy turns around, and they can more easily go elsewhere, will you be seeking to hire an entirely new team?

• 360 Assessment - This can be a great gateway to assessing how well your front-line management is performing in this area.  Get a handle on how your employees perceive their direct superiors.  We know, people don't leave jobs, they leave managers.
• Third Party Consulting - Get guidance from a third party who is trained to do so.  Your assessment won't just sit on a shelf.  And, you will be able to apply the data to improve any issues that are found.
• Confidentiality - If the data doesn't remain confidential - even from you - it's likely to be inaccurate anyway.  The fear of repercussions will prevent candid responses, which are a must for valid data.
• Development & Training - Upon completion of a 360 Assessment, each manager will know how they are perceived.  (Am I approachable?  Do I micro-manage?)  True or not, it's about perception and it's up to them to change any negative perceptions employees have that are adversely affecting business results.  Leadership Development and training in how to motivate and engage employees is necessary to see improvement in employee engagement, leading to increased productivity and less likelihood of turnover.

• A Trusted Advisor - We all need these; a person that can provide you with knowledgeable, candid feedback or advice.  I advise my clients on Predictive Index® and strategic planning.  Yet, often there are more sensitive subjects, such as promoting employees and outplacement; diversity recruiting or family business planning.  Likely, as an executive, you are this person for someone else at present if not more than one.  Yet, do you have your own source(s)?
• Supplemental Talent - What are your inherent strengths?  Where do you naturally shine or excel?  Are you a person of authority who always has a creative solution?  Maybe you are the face of your organization that represents it amongst other key players making connections in your industry?  You probably navigate more than one plain successfully.  But, being honest, there are probably a few in which you have no interest and others where you simply leave a little "to be desired".  The talents required everywhere, as amazing as you are, will not always be a carbon copy.  Bring in those who see it and do it differently to provide you that alternative perspective.  Let's meet if you would like to learn more on your inherent strengths and natural leadership style.
• Employee Perception - It's likely you invest time and money to get a better understanding of client/customer perceptions of your brand.  This affects your bottom-line and you know it.  Have you given the same investment to assess employee perceptions?  Engaging employees if most often the responsibility of their immediate supervisor.  Do you know how well front-line management is performing in this arena?  How do your people perceive you?