Do you know what both prospective customers and prospective talent have in common?
They are both looking for a company that provides a well executed combination of excellent company culture and value driven services or products.
The customer wants a good deal on the thing they need from people that clearly enjoy what they do. Today’s top talent demands a work environment that empowers them to be proud of what they do and where they do it.
No matter what your industry, company size, or location, the key that unlocks that winning combination is leadership. The vision, planning, and execution that cascades from the top down is what guides an organization more than anything else. Company culture, profitability, and growth potential are all directly impacted by those efforts.
In any organization, there is an abundance of moving parts. Small organizations must move those many parts with fewer people. Mid-sized companies find themselves having to adjust which part goes where as they grow and change. Larger organizations may seem to have it best, with plenty of people to move each bit. Unfortunately for them, more people and more moving parts just gives you more of a chance of having a break in the system.
Cogs in clocks. Gears in a car. Lungs of a body. Whatever your favorite metaphor may be, everyone has heard them applied to a successful company. They may be well used cliches, but they exist for a reason. What clearer illustration could you have of the dangers of a breakdown? Grinding in the gears or wheezing in the lungs will eventually cause spreading systemic issues. In the end you risk the scrap yard for the car or the ICU for the body.
What can any leader do to be more strategic?
In short, spend more time working ON the business and less time working IN it.
As a leader, you get pulled in every direction. You can’t be everywhere at once and you shouldn’t want to try. The right combination of people and coaching will empower you to focus on strategic growth and increase profitability. It’s time you give your organization what it really needs: A less distracted you.
That’s all a fine thing to say, of course; but saying isn’t doing. The reality is that you are probably already doing everything you can. What if I told you that you can make that so much easier on yourself, enabling both you and your organization to thrive? By overcoming the four main obstacles of leadership, it can be done. Examine your efforts with a critical eye for these key principles.
Division of Labor
If I showed up to a party with a baseball cap stacked on a cowboy hat over a fedora, I’d look pretty ridiculous. It would certainly get attention, but probably not the kind of attention I’d want. Making new friends or having meaningful conversation isn’t going to be helped by all my hats.
The same thing applies to leadership. We often have to wear many hats to run a successful business. When you have too many hats, they’ll eventually become too much of a distraction.
Reduce the scope of work and refocus. If something isn’t a core priority, consider contracting it out. Remember when pricing these services that this will be a time saver for you. What is your time worth? What strategic endeavors could you accomplish when you aren’t covered up in too many hats?
Span of Control
Are you a leader or a babysitter? If you spend much of your day running from one thing to the next, keeping track of all your problem children, then you absolutely cannot be strategic.
Too many direct reports will bog down their manager. This applies universally from the C-suite executives to the ground level supervisors. You end up with oppressively long hours, not feeling like you’re getting anything accomplished, losing resiliency, and ignoring your best workers. Managers at the mid and lower levels of a company are the most vulnerable to this. CEOs risk burning out their best team leaders and overtaxed managers risk running off their top talent.
When creating your organizational chart, be mindful of how many people any given supervisor has. The military has an old rule of 8, which works well for upper level executives. Further down the chain, the number of direct reports can increase; but shouldn’t rise beyond around a dozen. Take into consideration the individual’s capacity to lead and the other demands on them. It may be time to reorganize and redesign the overall structure of the company.
Delegation
I haven’t met a leader yet that didn’t have several balls in the air. The problems arise when there are too many balls in the air. Eventually some of them will be dropped. How’s your juggling act these days?
It’s not just a hindrance to small businesses either. Along with their presence in the market, a larger company has also grown the number of balls it’s trying to keep up with. And some of them have exchanged balls for flaming knives.
No matter what you’re juggling, you can’t be effective if you’re scrambling to catch it. You need to find others that are good at what they do to join the show. In fact, your best role would be to coordinate the jugglers, not trying to do the juggling. Divide the balls (or flaming knives) among the right people and you’ll soon find your customers taking notice of the spectacular performance.
Teamwork
Speaking of spectacular performances, they’re always best executed by a team. Sometimes before you can identify WHO you need, you must know WHAT you need. What are the tasks that must be completed start to finish? Imagine those tasks as boxes that must be passed along. Now align your team along that path. Set them up for continued success by implementing a system that will empower them to improve and develop pride in what they do.
I’m sure you noticed the running theme among these principles of leadership: having the right people in the right roles. You have to create a company people want to work at to attract that top talent, know what to ask during recruiting to identify the best candidates, and then have a time tested system in place to retain and elevate your workforce.
Reading isn’t doing and doing can be daunting. When you’re ready to spend less time scrambling and more time being strategic, request some time on the calendar. A consultation has no fees or obligations.
Garold (Gary) Markle is the creator of Catalytic Coaching and author of Catalytic Coaching: The End of the Performance Review. He brings real world experience from 17 years in HR leadership in major corporations coupled with 20 years of teaching small and mid-sized organizations how to cultivate their leadership and ditch their detrimental performance reviews for a proven Coaching process.
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