Almost every leader goes through this inner dialogue as part of the challenge of "slowing down." This fear, which often results in postponing the announcement about succession until the last minute, inhibits what could have been a much smoother transition.
Face it: When you are nearing the time to exit, you will become a lame duck! That is okay. Eyes will immediately turn to your successor as their vision for the team, department or company will mean more than yours. Colleagues who have encountered your disapproval for their pet ideas will just "wait it out" and re-sell their ideas to your successor. People will start sucking up to him or her the way they used to suck up to you.
So what's the solution? Make peace with being a lame duck — before it happens. Your life, your successor's life, and the lives of your coworkers will be a lot better.
In anticipation of his retirement, one of my favorite CEO clients, bought a stuffed duck and wrapped up one leg. He brought this plush "lame duck" with him to a few meetings. His direct reports and his successor thought this was hilarious. Beyond providing humor, this literal lame duck helped to break the ice about the potentially awkward topic of his upcoming departure. The moral of this story? Be a happy and productive lame duck.
And bear in mind that it's not all that bad to be a lame duck. Use this time to coach your successor behind the scenes. Transfer authority before it is necessary. Support your successor in whatever way you can. Build his or her confidence.
Involve your successor in important decisions and ensure as best you can that he or she agrees with any long-term goals before they are announced. After all, this is the person who is going to have to live with these goals for the next few years — and is going to have to make them work.
The key to being a really great lame duck is to make tough, unpopular decisions that you know will be good for the company in the long run. Don't get caught up on "finishing on a great note" or making sure that you look good. Focus on putting your successor into a spot where he or she will succeed. This type of class and self-sacrifice is rare, but this is your last chance to do the right thing for the long-term benefit of the company, your successor, and even yourself. Don't waste it!
Readers, please share your experiences in either becoming a lame duck, or watching leaders who were lame ducks.
]]>The economy will always have its ups and downs. That's why our company has two playbooks: one for running the company in an up period and another in a down period. If we enter a down period, we immediately switch to the down period playbook with its set of well-defined behaviors. Is this a good idea? And can a company still make money during bad times?
To answer your question, I decided to turn to Philip Kotler, the well-known marketing guru at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. Phillip has just recently published a book with John Caslione called Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence. Here's his advice:
PK: Having two playbooks, one for good times and one for bad times, is a good start but far from sufficient. For example, at the start of a downturn, companies tend to cut their hiring, advertising, and new product development. But to do this mechanically without addressing the causes of the downturn, the actions of their competitors, and the perceived length and depth of the crisis doesn't make sense. I am against robot responses.
A company can make money in bad times. Some companies will be favored because they are known to offer good value for a low price, such as Wal-Mart and McDonald's. Their sales will increase and although their profits might be lower than in good times, they will do fairly well.
Other companies have a number of options:
In taking any of these steps, make sure that your company doesn't dent the favorable aspects that have drawn customers to prefer and respect it. For example, a company that is admired for its level of service should never cut its service quality and risk losing this point of differentiation and preference. The key is to understand your customers' new problems and to consider how you can help them solve or resolve these problems. You have to coach your customer about possible solutions.
These are some ways to respond to the current downturn. But what about anticipating the next one? Every company is vulnerable not only to an economic downturn but to other disruptions that may come from technological change or from new global competitors. So the question becomes: how can companies do a better job of anticipating disruption? Companies generally do a poor job of monitoring the environment for clues to these threats. They lack an early warning system that might pick up weak signals of change. An early warning system would greatly reduce the level of surprise and chaos felt by a company that was too naïve.
The company then has to go further and imagine additional possibilities even before there is a sign that they might be taking place. For example, General Motors might ask: "What if China finds a way to make a battery that can hold a charge for 200 miles instead of the 90 miles that we are hoping to get out of our new battery?" A company must imagine new surprises.
Business is now exposed to continuous turbulence, not occasional turbulence. We aren't going back to normal times. The "new normality" is one of turbulence coming from two big forces, namely technological advances and globalization. All this spells higher risk and vulnerability.
There is a little rainbow in all of this. Change presents opportunity as well as vulnerability. The companies that succeed are those who look more at the opportunity side than the vulnerability side. If your company is having trouble, so are your competitors. If you are better funded, you can initiate lower prices or better benefits that they can't match. You can end up buying some of your competitors or putting them out of business.
Your customers, suppliers, and distributors are all suffering. Think about how to help them. Think about developing a new business model, a new product or service, a lower cost distribution channel, a lower cost supply chain. Rather than just relying on a rulebook, be more robust, resilient, and responsive to changing conditions.
MG: Thank you for Philip! Readers, for more on responding to the challenges of increased turbulence, please go to www.chaoticsstrategy.com. Please send in your comments about how your company is making money in today's economy.
]]>I do a lot of work on executive coaching and succession with my good friend, Jim Moore. Jim is the former CLO of three major companies. Here are some of our thoughts on how to make leadership succession a more relevant process in your company.
Many of the CEOs we talk with these days express concern about the lack of bench strength in their companies. They are very worried that they lack sufficient "ready now" candidates to replace planned & unplanned losses of key leaders. As a result, the future continuity and performance of the business is at risk. These same executives also tell us that their companies have been doing succession planning for years. On average, the executives we meet give their succession planning process a grade of C+ and they give their execution of succession plans a grade of D. If you are among the companies who are not happy with the impact of your succession planning process, you have plenty of company. Here are four practical ideas on how you can get more impact from your organization's succession planning efforts.
1. Change the name of the process to from Succession Planning to Succession Development.
Plans do not develop anyone — only development experiences develop people. We see many companies put more effort and attention into the planning process than they do into the development process. Succession planning processes have lots of to-do's — forms, charts, meetings, due dates and checklists. They sometimes create a false sense that the planning process is an end in itself rather than a precursor to real development. Many humans fall into the same trap regarding physical fitness. We have may have fantastic plans in place to lose weight. We may be very proud of our plans , which include detailed daily goals for diet, alcohol consumption, and exercise. And if our execution were half as impressive as our planning, we would be very svelte. Our focus should be on weight loss, not planning for weight loss.
2. Measure outcomes, not process
This change of emphasis is important for several reasons. First, executives pay attention to what gets measured and what gets rewarded. If leadership development is not enough of a priority for the company to establish goals and track progress against those goals, it will be difficult to make any succession planning process work. Second, the act of engaging with senior executives to establish these goals will build support for succession planning and ownership for leadership development. Third, these results will help guide future efforts and mid-course corrections.
The metrics a company could establish for Succession Development might include goals like the percent of executive level vacancies that are actually filled with an internal promotion vs. an external hire, or the percent of promotions that actually come from the high-potential pool. Too often, we find companies measure only the percent of managers that had completed succession plans in place.
3. Keep it simple.
We sometimes find companies adding excessively complex assessment criteria to the succession planning process in an effort to improve the quality of the assessment. Some of these criteria are challenging even for behavioral scientists to assess, much less the average line manager. Since the planning process is only a precursor to focus the development, it doesn't need to be perfect. More sophisticated assessments can be built into the development process and administered by a competent coach.
4. Stay realistic.
Following are two classic examples how succession plans may lack realism:
The head of engineering is a high performing leader who has the potential to be COO. She has always been in an engineering role. If she had sales experience, she would be even more ready to be the COO so her development plan is written to include a job move to be head of sales. However, this company would never take the risk of putting someone without sales experience in the top sales job — so her development plan perpetually says, "move to a sales job" even though that will never happen.The CFO is a high performing leader who has passed all the assessment criteria to be a high potential, ready-now candidate for the CEO job. He is told he is the top candidate. However, the CEO can't stand the guy, and as a result, he will never get the job as long as that CEO has a say in the matter.
While development plans and succession charts aren't promises, they are often communicated as such and can lead to frustration if they aren't realistic. Bottom line, don't jerk around high performing leaders with unrealistic development expectations. Only give the promise of succession if there is a realistic chance of its happening!
We believe the four suggestions above can help shift your organization's focus from planning to development — and achieve increased depth in your bench strength.
Please send us your suggestions on succession planning and how the process can be improved. Any of your personal examples are welcome.
]]>While moving up the organization, I've noticed a high turnover in the senior ranks. It seems like a lot of talented people who were once successful fail to make the grade. How can I increase the likelihood that I will not end up like these casualties?
MG: This is a significant challenge for executives today. How can you avoid being another turnover casualty? Nat Stoddard and Claire Wyckoff recently wrote about this in their new book The Right Leader: Selecting Executives that Fit. I asked them to give us their take on this question.
Nat and Claire: Thank you Marshall! Your reader's observation is absolutely correct. Over 64 percent of new CEOs (whose data is most readily available) fail to make it through their fourth year in the job, while 40 percent are gone in 18 months. Turnover rates for all senior executives have increased significantly during the past decade — in excess of 50 percent. In fact, they're up over three times the rate that they were throughout most of the 1990s.
The problem is not that executives can't do their jobs. The problem often lies in the fact that they may not fit the situation well enough to deliver the changes expected of them. By "fit" we mean how well an executives' character (especially their values and beliefs) aligns with the culture of the company ̬ where the necessary and expected changes must be delivered. If the character of the leader is not closely aligned with that of the organization, then, as Peter Drucker originally pointed out, followership will not occur — people won't trust a leader who doesn't share their values, and, without trust, they will not follow him or her. It is this lack of proper "fit" that causes so many senior executives to fail.
When you're considering a promotion or a move, the key is to ensure not only that your skills and abilities match up with the needs of the organization, but that you fit well with the organization's culture. There are three things to consider: the culture of the organization at large, that of the team of which you will be a member, and that of the team you'll be expected to lead.
The following are a few suggestions for reducing the risks of becoming a casualty of cultural conflict:
1. Know thyself. We encourage candidates to take a number of psychological and behavioral assessments. It is vital to understand yourself as fully as possible — especially your business-related beliefs and decision-making processes. It's also helpful to identify those aspects of different cultures that you relate to and those you don't. Write them down and refer to them as you gather data about the opportunities under consideration.
2. Inquire about the cultures at hand. Do the people you are interviewing treat culture as "that soft 'people' stuff?" That in itself tells you a great deal about the relative importance of culture in this organization, and its members' understanding of the challenges facing newly appointed leaders like yourself.
3. Use your network to verify what you have observed about the company's cultures. Former employees, suppliers, or consultants can shed light on what you will actually encounter. You can also ask to obtain permission to talk to a few potential peers, direct reports, your boss's boss, and members of the board. Think through the questions you want to ask about "how things get done around here" to get a sense of how much agreement there is about the makeup of the organization's culture.
Remember, while a new situation may seem like the perfect match, failing to fit adequately with the company cultures you encounter will increase your chances of becoming a turnover statistic. What's more, the higher up you go in any organization, the more important fit becomes — and the more difficult it is to recover from a situation that "just didn't work out."
MG: Thank you Nat and Claire! Readers, I'd love your comments on culture, fit, and turnover. Please send me your thoughts!
]]>Marshall: I hear this concern every where I travel these days. Who doesn't? My friend Joe Wheeler, Executive Director of The Service Profit Chain Institute, recently co-authored a book with Harvard Business School Professors James L. Heskett and W. Earl Sasser, Jr. entitled The Ownership Quotient, Putting The Service Profit Chain to Work for Unbeatable Competitive Advantage. I asked him for his perspective on this question. Here's his take:
Joe: Managers across the country are facing tough decisions as they try to manage their cost base against diminishing demand. In many cases, this affects labor costs and the potential for layoffs, furloughs, or other cutbacks. These disruptions can have a nasty impact on employee morale and commitment.
In our book, we studied the practices of organizations like Wegmans Food Markets, ING Direct, and Harrah's Entertainment — organizations we characterize as "service profit chain leaders." They achieve a large percentage of 'owners' in their employee base — employees that are highly engaged and demonstrate an 'ownership' mentality. These employees recommend new employees to the organization, and participate in efforts to improve current products, services, and processes. This engagement inevitably leads to greater success for the company, and is of significant benefit especially during tough times.
Here are three things you can do to maintain and foster an ownership culture:
1. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Of course you're busy searching for business to keep the organization afloat. But employees with an ownership mentality want to know what is happening in their company. Set aside time regularly to provide your employee-owners with information that will help them understand their short-term job prospects. Just as important, provide them with specific plans for using the next 18 to 24 months to reposition the organization for the next decade.
There is a lot of anxiety and uncertainty in many organizations today. In some cases, it interferes with quality and productivity. Merely recognizing employee concerns can help alleviate them. Relatively inexpensive employee counseling can become memorable at times like these. These actions, coupled with incentives that elicit new ideas for improving operations can send important positive messages at a time of stress. They can foster "ownership" behaviors — loyalty, high productivity, and referrals of others as potential employees — that enhance the lifetime value of members of the organization.
2. Appeal to the Better Nature of Your Employee-Owners
The current economic crisis provides the national government with the basis for establishing a citizenry characterized by volunteerism. It provides you with the "burning platform" necessary to enlist everyone in transforming your organization to win the competitive battles of the future. It's a great time to engage employee-owners in coming up with ideas to deal with the downturn. This doesn't have to involve an elaborate "program," just an organized appeal.
It may involve juicing up an already existent effort. For example, at Baptist Health Care, an organization regularly cited as one of the best places to work, managers lead discussions on subjects such as survey results and solicit ideas for ways to improve customer service as part of an ongoing Listening and Learning program. The resulting "customer snapshot reports" compile all employee observations and ideas for general distribution.
3. Upgrade Talent: Avoid the Freeze
Winners like to work with winners; losers like to work with winners; but winners don't like to work with losers. Who are the losers? Ironically, many times it's not those who are performing at a sub-par level; they often can be coached and supported in ways that help them improve their productivity. More frequently, it's those who violate the norms of the organization and can't manage by the values shared by others. In the context of the organization and its culture, they are regarded as "jerks" by their colleagues — jerks who are tolerated because of the ability to "make the numbers." But most often, the "losers" are simply those who are not inspired and excited about the business, who go about performing the necessary but not the extra.
Now is the time to let go of the losers, thereby raising the average level of talent in the organization. That doesn't mean a freeze on hiring, however. Instead, it may be a great time to take advantage of a depressed talent market by making a few strategic hires of long-sought candidates from competitors or other organizations.
Marshall: Thank you Joe! This is great advice. To learn more about The Ownership Quotient visit www.ownershipquotient.com or email Joe here.
Readers, do you have a employee ownership issues to share? Do you have techniques you use to motivate employees in lean, even frightening times? Please send share them with us.
]]>1. She doesn't think she has a problem.
This successful adult has no interest in changing. Her behavior is working fine for her. If she doesn't care to change, you are wasting your time! Let me give you an example of a nice woman who didn't think she had a problem. My mother, a lovely woman and much-admired first-grade teacher, was so dedicated to her craft that she didn't draw the line between inside and outside the classroom. She talked to all of us, including my father, in the same slow, patient manner, using the same simple vocabulary that she used with her six-year-olds every day. One day as she graciously and methodically corrected his grammar for the millionth time, he looked at her, sighed, and said, "Honey, I'm 70 years old. Let it go." My father had absolutely no interest in changing. He didn't perceive a problem. So no matter how much, how hard, or how diligently she coached, he wasn't going to change.
2. He is pursuing the wrong strategy for the organization.
If this guy is already going in the wrong direction, all you're going to do with your coaching is help him get there faster.
3. They're in the wrong job.
Sometimes people feel that they're in the wrong job with the wrong company. They may believe they're meant to be doing something else or that their skills are being misused. Here's a good way to determine if you're working with one of these people. Ask them, "If we shut down the company today, would you be relieved, surprised, or sad?" If you hear 'relieved,' you've got yourself a live one. Send them packing. You can't change the behavior of unhappy people so that they become happy: You can only fix behavior that's making people around them unhappy.
4. They think everyone else is the problem.
A long time ago I had a client who, after a few high-profile employee departures, was concerned about employee morale. He had a fun, successful company and people liked the work, but feedback said that the boss played favorites in the way he compensated people. When I reported this feedback to my client, he completely surprised me. He said he agreed with the charge and thought he was right to do so. First off, I'm not a compensation strategist and so I wasn't equipped to deal with this problem, but then he surprised me again. He hadn't called me to help him change; he wanted me to fix his employees. It's times like these that I find the nearest exit. It's hard to help people who don't think they have a problem. It's impossible to fix people who think someone else is the problem.
My suggestion in cases like these? Save time, skip the heroic measures, and move on. These are arguments you can't ever win.
Have you ever tried to coach someone who was "uncoachable"? Send me your comments. I'd love to read them!
]]>The successor I've chosen for my position is great! There are just a few things that aren't going to fly at my organization. How do I set my successor up for success?
In most cases, I believe that hiring an executive coach to assist with this process can be very useful. However, you as the leader need to be responsible for the entire process. You know what it takes to be the next leader of your company (or division, or unit, or team) even more than the very best behavioral coach.
I'll share a few ideas with you here about the coaching process. Review them, do what works for you, and if you think it will help, hire an outside coach to do the rest.
Assuming that your successor has some work to do to improve her stakeholder relationships, that she is motivated to change, and that she will be given a fair chance to do so, let's get started. (If these three things are not in place, reconsider your choice of successor!)
First, your incoming leader needs to know that her behavior will matter a lot to the people she is leading. They will be listening to her, watching her, and they will care deeply what she does. Her best chance of success is to learn how to act like a leader before she gets the job, not after.
To help her learn the role of the leader, involve key stakeholders to determine the strengths and challenges she faces. There are a few reasons to do this:
My personal approach to this type of developmental coaching involves asking each stakeholder three simple questions:
Now that feedback has been gathered, it is time to figure out what your succession candidate needs to change, wants to change, and is willing to change, and then it is time to begin the coaching process.
Readers, this post is adapted from my new book, Succession: Are You Ready? Please send in your comments about preparing your successor.
It's time for me to move on. How do I let my successor know he is next in line? And just as importantly, how do I tell the rest of the team?
This can be difficult. At some point in the succession process, you will have to let your successor know that he is next in line. Though the person you are grooming to replace you must be told, there is not tried-and-true formula for choosing the perfect time.
I've seen this done many ways. In one instance, the successor was chosen years in advance. Everyone knew he was next in line and had years to adjust to the process. This case worked well, but this type of succession does not always work.
In another instance, the successor was part of a three-person competition for the job. He was notified just before he was to take the position. This case worked in this instance, but I would not recommend it every time.
Each succession is unique; however, there are common factors to consider when making your choice. First, how many possible, qualified candidates are available? If there is more than one potential candidate, then waiting — and getting more information — will help you make the right decision. If there is clearly a "best choice," there are no other close-running candidates, and the person is likely to leave the company if not being assured of the position, then waiting to tell him or her may be a mistake.
Once you have determined when to tell your successor he is next in line for the position, you will have to figure out how to let his colleagues know of your decision. Many of these executives may well have thought that they had a chance at the job! You may have thought you were being clear about these other executives' chances at the position, but you cannot assume they got the message. Here are two important steps to take:
1. Coach your successor on how to handle each of his key stakeholders — individually. Some of them will be thrilled with the news, some of them will be angry, some disappointed, and some hopeful. This is to be expected. Role-play with your successor how he will handle these different reactions, before he talks with each stakeholder.
2. Talk with each stakeholder one-on-one before your successor does. Be sensitive to their responses, which may be quite emotional if they had hopes for the job. Let them know that the final decision has been made and do whatever you can to encourage their support of your successor. Be prepared that they may be disappointed, angry, or even leave the company. This is part of it.
Finally, you will probably have second thoughts after the announcement is made. Let them go! Once you have made your final commitment, do not verbalize any doubt. Do whatever you can to minimize your ego and maximize your successor's chances for a successful transition.
My advice is to realize that each succession is different and for each, though there is no magic formula for success, following a few simple steps will ensure the process is a much smoother one.
Readers — This article is adapted from my new book, Succession: Are You Ready? Please send in your comments about succession.
]]>I'm next in line for the big job, and my boss, the CEO, is acting very odd. She's talked about retirement for years, but now she's waffling. Why? What can I do?
Being next in line for the big job, you may understand in a few years what makes it so hard for any leader, including the CEO, to move on. If you have personally been through a departure, you may laugh as you relate to the examples I'm about to give. You may remember how difficult it was to let go.
Nearly all of the leaders I have talked to over the years have assured me that they will be different when it's time to move -- that they will have no problem letting go of their jobs. When it comes down to it, however, it's smarter to accept and make peace with the fact that it will be difficult to let go.
Though as a CEO or leader, one may have faced an incredible amount of stress and pressure, the job naturally also came with many great benefits. Recognize that a leader who is moving on will have to give up some or all of the following:
• Wealth Company leaders make a great salary. They may not be interested in showing off their riches; they may choose to give much of their money away to their favorite charity; they may want for absolutely nothing; and yet it is still hard to let go of the "personal scorecard" that money easily becomes. Money can become a way to count how valuable we are and when we make less of it, we may feel we are less valuable -- this is not the case, of course, but just knowing that has never stopped a feeling!
• Perquisites Some company leaders are lucky enough to go to sports games and sit in the special "company box;" they may fly around in the company jet; they may have a great personal assistant. It can be very difficult to face long airport security lines, bad seats at the game, and scheduling calls and meetings yourself after so many years with these great perks. My suggestion to retiring executives? Hire a personal assistant. You can afford it and you will free up your time to do the things that are personally rewarding to you and that make a contribution to others.
• Status Being a leader or company executive, you learn to live with an incredible amount of status. You have been introduced for years as "So-and-so, the head of the company." Now you are introduced as "So-and-so, the person who used to be..." The people you meet may be less admiring or pass by you to talk to more significant people in the room. Make peace with this loss of status. Learn to enjoy others' success.
• Power Studies indicate that most leaders have a higher need for power than most people — although they often don't realize it. Power is very hard to let go of. For instance, one little suggestion from the CEO quickly becomes an order. Even if the CEO didn't mean it to be an order, her word is law. Over time as you move into higher and higher levels of authority, you have gained more and more power...gradually. But when you decide to leave your position, you will lose all this power — suddenly! This can be hard to take.
Now, stop and review what the CEO gives up when she transits out of her job: money, status, perks, and power. This is to say nothing of the immaterial benefits of being a leader, such as relationships, happiness, meaning, and contribution.
My advice is be gentle on the transitioning leader. If any transitioning leaders are reading this, then be gentle on yourself. Make peace with letting go, and look forward to creating a great rest of your life!
Readers - This response was adapted from my new book, Succession: Are You Ready? Please send in your own comments about the challenges of succession!
I am on an expatriate assignment in China and have several teams of people reporting to me--but I believe that many of the leadership practices that worked for me in the past may not work in China. Do you have any advice on how I can adapt?
MG: Bill Byham, a respected entrepreneur and author, has just published a book on this subject called Leadership Success in China: An Expatriate's Guide. As CEO and Chairman of Development Dimensions International, Bill has been working with companies on their leadership strategies and their efforts to globalize their leadership practices. I asked Bill if he would share some insight on this. Here is his response:
BB: I understand your frustration. The culture in China is very different, shaped by a long cultural heritage, the impact of more than 50 years of Communist rule, and most recently, dramatic changes in the expectations of young professionals, what I like to call Generation Y on steroids. You will find that some leadership practices that apply in the West also work in China, but many do not. Here are three challenges you may face, with solutions:
1. Understand how your role as leader is different
In China, your followers will expect you to deal with them almost like a guardian or parent would deal with their children in a family setting. In return, they will be good followers--doing what they think you want. Once your leadership is established, there will be a much stronger personal relationship between you and your team than you've probably experienced in Western countries. For example, you'll be expected to show interest in the personal life of your team members.
You also need to understand some distinct cultural traits, like their need to save face. Some individuals perceive asking for help as a sign of incompetence or weakness--so they'll avoid sharing a problem or issue with you. If you want to know how things are really going in their role, you'll have to prompt them for detail and use your best fact-finding skills.
2. Develop the leaders who report to you
One of the first challenges that you'll face is that China's growth has forced organizations to place many potentially good candidates into leadership roles too early. Our research at DDI has shown that at least 25 percent of leaders are weak in critical skills including motivating others, building trust, retaining talent, and leading high-performance teams. Developing your subordinate leaders will be your most important task in most organizations.
You will have to adapt your style between younger and older leaders. For example, many older Chinese leaders lack leadership skills and have little exposure to Western management practices. Some will be resistant to change, which you'll have to overcome by arousing their pride in what they bring to the team and the benefits the change will bring to the group.
In contrast, if young Chinese leaders are not coached and developed, they tend to acquire bad management habits, including excessive reliance on the use of power derived from their rank and poor delegation skills.
3. Overcome teamwork challenges
You may be surprised to know that teamwork doesn't come naturally in the Chinese workplace, and you'll need to work harder for cooperation within and among groups.
You can teach cooperation skills by establishing a "team contract" and spelling out some rules that should be observed by your team. These can include accomplishing team goals first, utilize one another's skills, supporting each other, listening to others, and executing team agreements. You need to be clear on your expectations and be sure that there is real cooperation happening. You need to model teamwork as you deal with other parts of your organization, and when you witness great teamwork, celebrate it.
While the cultural differences are dramatic, you can arm yourself with the skills to adapt to this environment and turn this assignment into a rewarding experience.
MG: Thank you Bill! Readers if you would like to learn more about leading in China, visit the DDI website. As always, any comments, reflections, or ideas you have are much appreciated.
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On April 15, Marshall Goldsmith will be doing a webinar on how to increase your effectiveness as a leader and mentor.
How can I practice green or sustainable business during these tough economic times?
MG: That's a good question: Budgets are tight and customers are tighter. Going green was an easy sell a few years ago, but is that movement dead during a recession? For an insider's perspective on how to be green during tough times, I turned to Tim Sanders, author of the new book Saving the World at Work to help answer your question. Here's what he says:
TS: In ten years, your company will need to be much greener than it is today. Otherwise, its brand will weaken and regulations on carbon will attack your margins. But that's a long time away, you say, so let's take a break for a few years until things get better. Here's my news flash: Done right, green is free!
Going green has previously been a "spend money" exercise including investments in new technologies, expensive product or service ingredients, etc. Today, spending extra money on "going green" may be a tough sell at work. The good news is that you can green up your company, and likely save money at the same time. Here's five things you can do:
1. Focus on waste reduction. Ray Anderson (founder of Interface Inc.) saved his company over $300,000,000 in about ten years by focusing on waste reduction as the eco-plan for the company. You can too. If it doesn't add customer value, cut it. Look for waste like you look for money-and you'll find some to cut.
2. Focus on Reuse and Repair over Dispose and Replace. One new laptop can create hundreds of pounds of carbon emissions. So put them off until the current ones can't fulfill business needs. Instead of new office chairs, how about having the current chairs fixed or reupholstered? Instead of a water cooler, how about a water filter?
3. Replace stuff with bits. Look at everything you do with your customers and supply chain. How much paper, plastic, petro, and power go into these transactions? Instead of packages, you send files. Instead of physical products (books, DVDs), you provide online access.
4. Share the savings with the eco-team. Team up with a few people at work and calculate the current fixed eco-financial costs of the business: power, travel, document printing, shipping, etc. Announce a program where all employees are invited to participate in reducing the impact of the company. At the end of 90 days, calculate the savings, then share half of it with the employees on their next paychecks. If that's too radical, just offer a grand prize for the biggest idea and the biggest contributor to the program.
5. Test and scale. If your department finds a way to reduce travel by 25% without hurting the business, share this process with other departments. If your group can find a way to reduce document printing and shipping successfully, share it with the rest of the company. When you have four or five departments winning with an innovation, bring it to the big bosses as a win.
MG: Thank you, Tim. Readers - You can find out more ideas at www.SavingTheWorld.net. As always, your thoughts and ideas on this subject are appreciated. Please send in comments.
I have never thought of myself as innovative. I figure the folks in marketing and R&D can take care of our innovation needs while I spend my work life just doing my job. But recently I read that we all have the capacity to be innovative, even conservative people like me. Should I focus on being an innovator?
MG: This is a great question, which I will turn over to Stephen C. Lundin Ph.D. You may know Steve from his FISH! books. Well, there is a new animal in town. Steve has written a new book titled CATS: The Nine Lives of Innovation. Much of what has been written about innovation is strategic and organizational in nature. Steve writes about innovation at the personal level and in doing so, he addresses your question head on.
SL: It is common for people to form an opinion about their level of creativity and their ability to innovate that is inaccurate. We all know someone who bounces off the wall with ideas and we feel a bit more constrained. Couple that with the extroverted nature of exercises designed to stimulate new ideas, and it is easy to get the impression that an introverted, comfort-seeking, and conservative person doesn't have a contribution to make.
The truth is far different. We all have the capacity to innovate. It comes free with our membership in the human race. We bring an advantage no one else has with our uniqueness. We have a capacity to innovate, and we need to develop that capacity into a capability so we can contribute to the innovation of our business and of our life.
The Nine Lives of Innovation constitutes the curriculum for building innovation capability. Each of the "nine lives" enhances the capability to innovate. The lives include building spaciousness and preparing for innovation.
What I call "understanding normal" -- that is, knowing why we are the way we are -- is a key first step. But going beyond that to harness the power of provocation in innovation is where the fun really starts. We can provoke ourselves to be more innovative (and less "normal") through scenarios, objects, observations and discussion with others. We can escape our own norms just by learning to better use our imagination. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it's the key to innovation.
Finally, putting failure in its proper place of contribution to innovation is critical. Fail early and fail often!
MG: Thank you, Steve. Readers - your thoughts and ideas on this subject are appreciated. Please send in comments with your answers to this intriguing question. Steve can be reached at SLRunner@aol.com.
]]>Steve Jobs has been a hugely successful leader at Apple. Not only has he been successful, he is recognized as being successful. Numerous business publications, including BusinessWeek, have ranked him as one of America's greatest leaders. It is hard to argue with this assessment. His leadership of the company has helped to recruit great talent, inspire innovation, increase stock price and build long-term corporate value. He is an iconic figure in the world of technology.
Even the possibility of his departure will naturally cause fear among stockholders.
Steve Jobs is also a human being. I do not know him personally, but he has always come across as straightforward and candid. I was asked, by one reporter, if I believed that Apple's board had made a mistake in "hiding" information about his health. I have no inside information. My guess is that both Mr. Jobs and the Board have consistently told the truth about his health - as they believe it to be true and hope it is true. I doubt that the Board has been hiding anything in an inappropriate way. Almost no medical diagnosis results in a certain prediction of the future; medical doctors, like most human beings, can only provide best guesses and probabilities.
I was asked, by another reporter, if the company would be better off if he just left, as opposed to taking a leave. I don't think so. Unlike companies that ask customers what they need, and then try to build products and services around these known needs, Apple has been an innovator. Apple has created products and applications that their customers had not previously considered.
In his new role, Steve Jobs can still provide inspiration to Apple employees. He can help spark and lead the process of innovation. His "day to day" management of the company was probably not his greatest strength in the first place. My belief is that for both short-term and long-term stock value, any role by Steve Jobs is better than no role.
In hindsight, what could Apple have done differently? The company could have placed more emphasis and given more visibility to other leaders at various levels. They could have reduced their reliance on one person as not only the leader, but as the face of their entire organization.
Everyone has '20/20' hindsight. As long as his visibility, his image and his leadership were working, I am sure it was difficult for Apple not to promote him and bask in his success.
The problem with iconic leaders is that they are very hard to replace. When I was a Ph.D. student at UCLA, their basketball coach was John Wooden. Coach Wooden is generally regarded as the greatest college basketball coach in history. After he retired, several immediate successors were fired in short order. They just. Were. Not. Him.
Anyone who ultimately assumes the position of CEO of Apple is going to have a hard time. When I was asked how I thought stockholders would react to new leadership at Apple, my reply was, "If Steve Jobs leaves, the stock price will go down if God is selected as the next CEO."
My hope is the Steve Jobs will continue to help Apple for years, either as CEO or a leader in strategic thinking an innovation.
Who knows? In the long run this could all work out for the best -- for both Steve and the company. Hopefully, he will get his health back and continue to help Apple. This would not only be great for Apple, it would be great for the United States! The company will work to develop leadership and plan succession at all levels - and not rely too much on one person. This is a lesson that all companies with highly visible leaders need to learn.
]]>What tips/advice do you have for how we can face job insecurity and loss in the current economic climate?
Today's business world is increasingly challenging--with economic unrest and rapid changes in infrastructure. Many good people have recently found themselves facing job insecurity and layoffs. I contacted my good friend and best-selling author Karen Salmansohn for some tips on bouncing back and even thriving in the face of adversity.
Karen, would you answer this question for us?
Karen: Sure Marshall, I'd be happy to!
1. To those of you who have just endured a career adversity, join the crowd--and by the way, it's a very distinguished successful crowd.
Many members of the Fortune 500 Club could easily earn membership in the Misfortune 500 Club. Successful people are not people who never fail; they are people who know how to fail well. They have learned to use the leverage of a failure to push themselves up higher.
Bill Gates relishes the lessons of failure so much that he purposely hires people who have made mistakes. Roberto Goizueta, Coca-Cola's CEO, says the risk-taker mentality is the very reason he hired back the guy who launched New Coke--a huge marketing failure. Goizueta recognized that you can become uncompetitive and dangerously inactive if you let "avoiding failure" become your motivator. "You can stumble only if you're moving," he says.
If you've recently stumbled and fallen in your career, re-focus on how your risky thinking makes you more knowledgeable. See work failure as "fullure"--full of many lessons.
2. Think like a lion about your firing. Graham Thomas Chipperfield, a lion tamer with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, was bitten by Sheba, one of his 500-pound lionesses
Before he got back in the cage with her, he analyzed the event from her point of view. First, he recognized that lions tend to think of the trainer as another lion. So, when he attempted to break up a fight between her and another lion--Sheba figured that he wanted to join fight!
Did Chipperfield blame Sheba for her inaccurate thinking? No. He took time to see the biting from her perspective. This is the same technique as that used by many therapists--beginning with Freud--called "mimesis." Through such role-play from offending party's perspective, patients can better understand why someone has "bitten" them and hopefully avoid being bitten again. If you've been fired, rejected, yelled at, take time today to see things from "Sheba's Point of View," so that perhaps you can avoid this happening again.
3. If you ask depressing questions, you will get 100% depressing answers. For example it does no good to ask yourself: Why didn't I...? What if...? Why me...? Would you accept some of the mean questions you ask yourself if they came from an outside source? Doubtful! So you have to "stop 'em and swap 'em" immediately for these questions that bounce you upward: What can I do to move forward? How can I grow from this challenge? What's within my control to change?
4. Shrink negativity into "nuggetivity." Limit the amount of time you allow yourself to think negative thoughts to three-minute nuggets, three times a day. Set aside a specific time of day when you will allow yourself to think negative thoughts. Whenever a negative thought enters your head, tell yourself it will have to wait until your preset Negativity Appointment. Who knows, maybe you won't even want to think negatively once this time swings around?
Marshall: Thanks Karen! What an uplifting interview. For more career and happiness info pick up Karen's new book The Bounce Back Book: How to Thrive in the Face of Uncertainty, Setbacks and Losses, or go to notsalmon.com.
Readers: Your thoughts and ideas on this subject are greatly appreciated. Please send comments.
Once again, I hired the perfect person, I thought, and he's turned out to be a nightmare. Why is it so hard to hire the right person?
Hiring the right people is not as simple as it sounds! Millions of managers ask themselves this same question every day. I asked my friends Geoff Smart and Randy Street (HBS '97), co-authors of the instant New York Times bestseller Who: The A Method for Hiring, if they would answer this question. Following is their answer.
GS & RS: It's hard to hire the right person because managers use "voodoo hiring" methods that don't work. Unsuccessful hiring is every manager's #1 problem. They don't teach you how to hire in high school, college, or even at Harvard Business School!
Hiring managers who invent their own approaches, most of which are horrible, not only waste time, but also produce a 50% failure rate on average. And, in tough economic times like these, getting your business's house in order from a talent perspective is of paramount importance if you are going to weather the storm.
We conducted the largest research ever done to solve this problem of unsuccessful hiring. We distilled 13 years of consulting insights across hundreds of companies, performed exclusive interviews with over 20 billionaires and 60 other CEOs and investors to collect their best advice and stories on this topic, and completed a university-sponsored scientific study of 313 CEO careers.
What did we learn? We learned 7 things that managers can do today to improve their hiring success rate from 50% to 90%. We call this the "A Method For Hiring."
You can do it. Master the A Method for Hiring. Enjoy more career success. Make more money. Have more time.
MG: Thanks Geoff and Randy! This is great advice. To learn more about the A Method for Hiring, go to www.whothebook.com or email Randy Street.
Readers: Do you have a hiring nightmare to share? Do you have hiring techniques? Please send share them with us!