A friend and colleague, Mike S, recently wrote to me, “I enjoy reading your thoughts on leadership and know you have dealt in the past with how a leader sets an example, acts and lives, but I was wondering if you have considered the topic I will call ‘how a leader starts’. This topic intrigues me because I am about to start something new and the timing is appropriate.”
I am starting a new role as well so this is a great moment to explore the subject of ‘In the beginning’. In a series of posts I will outline some of my thoughts as I start this new role. If you follow this blog you know I took a time out for Bill Taylor a couple of weeks ago. Before my eulogy for Bill, the previous blog was titled “Ask Questions”; I will pick back up here with “Setting Priorities”. This will be the first of several posts on this topic.
How many business books have you seen with a sub-title, “How to do everything all at once”? None; in fact usually we read statements like this from Peter Drucker, “Do first things first, and second things not at all.” I have long considered strategy to be more about what you decide NOT to do, rather than what you decide TO do. We all know we should focus, we all know we should be Setting Priorities, but how should we go about doing it?
In photography, a filter is a camera accessory that is inserted in the optical path. Filters allow added control for the photographer of the images being produced. Sometimes they are used to make only subtle changes to images; other times the image would simply not be possible without them. Likewise, we have a filter as we begin Setting Priorities. Like the photographer, our filter sits in our field of vision and controls our image of the future. Sometimes our filter makes subtle changes to the future and sometimes our view of the future simply would not exist without our filter. The filter we choose to put in our field of vision is critical. In general, I have seen two very different types of filters; serve or be served.
Serve or be served relates to the overall posture you or your organization will maintain. Serve or be served defines your frame of mind which affects all your thoughts and behavior. As I hire managers, the first thing I look at is their posture related to their people. Does this person arrive at work and think, “What will my people do for me today?” Or do they arrive at work and think, “What will I do for my people today?” The same can be said of an organization; does it exist to serve or be served? Long term the posture that succeeds is the “serve” posture.
Therefore, the first step in Setting Priorities is to place a “serve” filter in your field of vision. How is that done? Recently I got my management team together as part of “Setting Priorities” and asked them to identify our constituents; essentially I asked them, who do we serve? They identified four key constituents; employees, customers, partners and investors. Then we went through a process to identify how these constituents see us today and how they will see us in the future if we do a great job of serving them. Here is the output of that session:
- For employees we want them to have a stock that is valuable, we want them to attain their bonus targets and feel engaged and part of the success of the sales organization.
- For customers we want them to say we understand and transform their business, they have a great buying experience, we provide great solutions to their challenges and they are enthusiastic about being references.
- For partners we want them to grow their business, be self-sufficient in driving sales and build successful marketing automation practices.
- For investors we want them to say we are accurate in our forecasts, we perform consistently, we are growing faster than the market and we are the clear market leader.
We now have our filter in place. Our view of the future is seen through that filter. Everything we do next in “Setting Priorities” will be shaped by a future state thought process surrounding those we serve.
“No wind favors him who has no destined port.” - Michel de Montaigne French Philosopher and Writer, 1533-1592
1 comment:
Alex, I came across your blog this afternoon and thought of something Wilson Goode said at the end of his term as Mayor of Philadelphia.
You may remember Mayor Goode for his infamous decision to drop a bomb from a helicopter on a troublesome row house in the Cobbs Creek Parkway neighborhood of West Philadelphia. The bomb and resulting fire destroyed not only the intended target but 70 to 80 neighboring homes as well. An unmitigated disaster in the realms of municipal government.
At the end of his term Goode was asked by a reporter what lesson he was taking from office. Without missing a beat this Harvard educated pol said he had learned that there are two aspects to every decision. The first part, figuring out "the right thing to do", was easy.
The second portion of a decision, and the part of the decision most got wrong, was figuring out "the right way to do the right thing."
I've never forgotten that advice and for what its worth, I pass it along.
I look forward to checking back down the road.
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