In the beginning….Setting Priorities (I)

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

Passion Part VI - Sacrifice

This is the last in a series of posts about passion as a force multiplier in an organization and the creation of passion through individuals who know their role, are convinced their role matters and see the good of their work.  Throughout the last few weeks, I argued that leaders must focus on the following elements to create and sustain passion; vision, culture, principles, and style.  I received great feedback on these topics and invariably someone says, "this is an interesting point Alex, but how do you actually get something like this done?"  To answer that question, I must conclude the discussion of passion with the topic of sacrifice.  

We can make speeches, write emails, pound our fists on a podium and exhort those around us, but nothing changes unless leaders make believable observable sacrifices.  Sacrifice is a difficult word, for many it has a negative, punishing overtone.  Yet sacrifice merely means giving up something valuable or important for somebody or something else considered to be of more value or importance.  Sacrifice, therefore, is making a choice.  People watch leaders make choices and knowingly or unknowingly choose what the leader has chosen.  Fair?  Maybe not, but it is the reality of the relationship between the leader and their team.  I quoted Robert E. Lee in the post about culture, and I have to repeat him here, "You must be careful how you walk, and where you go, for there are those following you who will set their feet where yours are set"

Choice by itself will not do the deed; the choice must be believable and observable.  Why believable?  A choice that is believable cannot be discounted; the human brain must pay attention to it. Observable?  The choices must be planned out and visible.  We have all heard it said, "Don't just talk the talk, but walk the talk".  Right; but we must also talk the walk.  People have to see the choices occur.  Some things should not be done in the dark.

There are four believable observable sacrifices a leader can make.  We must consciously understand these sacrifices and strategically plan and use them to create and sustain passion.  As you consider the vision you have, the culture you want, the boundaries you set and the style you preach, you must make these sacrifices to imprint your will on the team.

1. Sacrifice time – How we use our time shows what we value.  My son came home from school once and told me, "Dad - today we learned how to spell love; T-I-M-E".  Go back through your calendar for the last six months and look at the use of your time.  Is your time connected to your vision?  Does it support the culture and boundaries you want in the organization?  Let's say you want to be customer focused.  Are you using your time to understand the customer?  Have you cancelled an important internal meeting to be with a customer?  What believable, observable choices do you make with your time?
2. Sacrifice money - What choices do you make with the funds inside your organization? Strategy without resource allocation is just a wish.  Let's say you have preached about leadership development.  Have you allocated resources to teach and engage the front line leadership in the organization? Don’t tell me where your priorities are. Show me where you spend your money and I’ll tell you what they are. - James W. Frick
3. Sacrifice ego – The first two are easy to understand, the last two require a bit more effort.  Sacrifice ego?  What does that mean?  Being right can get in the way of what you want to get done with your team. What are you willing to be wrong for?   Sacrificing your ego and going through the pain of "being wrong" in front of your team is humbling and tough.  Publicly acknowledging when you personally break one of the values of the organization is an important way we sacrifice our ego.  If I say, "Customers are our business" and then damage a customer relationship for financial results, will I stand in front of the team and say, "I am sorry I made a choice against our culture"
4. Sacrifice values - In every journey there are moments of truth.  These are moments where you choose between the way it was and the way it will be.  These are moments where you must publicly slay a previous value.  In one post, I talked about boundaries.  Let's say you have implemented a Getting it Done and Doing it Right set of boundaries and Doing it Right includes the value of teamwork.  What if your #1 producing employee is selfish and contributes nothing else to the team?  Will you remove that employee and will your team know why you removed the person from your team?

Many of you have seen the movie, "Saving Private Ryan".  In that movie there is scene with all these sacrifices on display.  General Marshall is approached by two War Department colonels and informed of the deaths of the Ryan brothers, and of the lone surviving brother in the 101st Airborne Division. Marshall reads a letter that had been sent to Lydia Bixby by President Lincoln concerning the loss of her sons during war, and orders that Private Ryan be found and returned home.   Time? The chief of staff of the Army makes time within days of the largest military operation in the history to discuss one man.  Money? Taking a decision to send a group of men after one man is a reallocation of resources.  Ego? Marshall pulls out a letter and it is obvious that he has memorized this letter by Lincoln consoling a mother of several sons who have died and used this letter frequently to remind himself of who he really is and the importance of all soldiers to their mother.  Previous value? Marshall overrides his staff that recommends that it is an unwise use of resources given everything else they are working on. We are all left with a deep sense of who Marshall is and what he believes.

One more example from history rather than film.  Regardless of your own personal belief system, today most scholars estimate there are a little more than 2 billion people in the world that call themselves Christian.  This is the largest religious group making up over 32% of the world's population.  The religion originated with one man 2000 years ago, a man who is acknowledged by other major religions including Islam who sees him as a prophet and Hindus who regard his teaching as solid moral, ethical and social commentary.  If the measure of leadership is related to sustained influence over people across time, then this one man had a level of influence above most others we can study.  And in the end, it was his believable, observable sacrifices that inspired and continue to inspire.

Passion Part IV - Principles

In this series of posts, I write about passion as a force multiplier in an organization and the creation of passion through individuals who know their role, are convinced their role matters and see the good of their work.  I argue that leaders must focus on five elements to create this level of passion; vision, culture, principles, style and sacrifice.  The previous posts discussed vision and culture, this post is about principles.

Principles or boundaries?  Words matter and boundaries just might be a better word for this topic.  Principles are accepted or professed rules of conduct or action; boundaries are something that indicates a border or limit.  Why would a border or limit increase passion?

How can controlling someone release them to pursue their role with passion?

Many years ago there was a study of child behavior.  Two identical school yards were designed. The yards were the exact same dimensions, terrain and elevation.  Both had a flagpole in the middle of the yard.  The only difference was that one yard had no fence and the other was fenced-in.  In the schoolyard with no fence, the children played in a tight circle around the flagpole.  In the yard with the fence, their play consumed the entire yard.  The control of the fence released their play.  

Another example of control and release is musical improvisation where creativity is based upon melody, harmony or rhythm.  Think about harmony; an instrument produces sound waves that cause air to vibrate at a specific frequency.  At any particular frequency, there will be an overtone at multiples of that frequency.  Our ears perceive the matching up of overtone waves as harmony.  If the improvisation does not occur at the exact multiples of the frequency, we will hear distortion rather than music.  The control of the math behind the overtones releases the creativity that allows improvisation to occur in harmony.

As leaders we must set up principles or boundaries within our organization.  The use of these boundaries will release people much like the school child in the study or the creative musician.  Boundaries that work are Getting it Done and Doing it Right.  The basic principle is both/and, not an either/or.  Our teams must know we expect them to Get it Done and Do it Right.  The both/and is the boundary, the control around which all creativity is encouraged. We are telling our teams we care about what they do and how they do it.

Imagine a 2x2 grid where the vertical axis is Getting it Done (low to high) and the horizontal axis is Doing it Right (low to high).  An assessment of each individual in the organization would create a grid populated with four potential outcomes:

1. Low GID, low DIR - Exit Door - unless something changes this person needs to leave
2. Low GID, high DIR - Coaching Time - all the right ingredients, this person needs to be taught how to do their job well
3. High GID, high DIR - Role Model - this person is studied and raised up to the organization
4. High GID, low DIR - Roadblock - the dangerous one, this person needs to leave quickly, keeping them in the organization will derail your plans.

Labels such as Getting it Done and Doing it Right are ambiguous and clarity must be brought into the boundaries. Getting it Done reflects the person's ability to do the job assigned and has three elements to it; a) does the person have the requisite knowledge and skills? b) do they perform the tasks or processes necessary in the job? c) what is their measurable performance against the key metrics for the job?  An example for a sales executive would be; a) do they know the product? b) do they use the sales process? c) do they maintain the right pipeline and do they make their quota?

Getting it Done elements likely change from job to job.  The Doing it Right elements should not.  Doing it Right reflects how the person does their job and has three elements to it;

1. Team Player - Do they place the team's needs above their own?  Do they willingly share expertise with others?  Do they respect, seek and embrace input from others?
2. Integrity and Accountability - Do they accept blame as well as glory? Are they ethical, trusted by customers, partners and their team? Do their actions match their words?  Do they demonstrate through action that self-improvement is a priority?
3. Optimism and Enthusiasm - Are they a source of energy vs. a use of energy within the team? Do they see the truth, but not for worse than it is? Can they argue their position, but support the organizational decision?

Once these are defined we begin measuring and plotting people on this 2x2 grid.  Imagine combining an objective assessment of an employee's position in the grid with the cultural attribute of straight-talk discussed in the last post.  Through this activity we give our people a great gift; they know their standing in the organization and they have a roadmap to be a star.  This should be done with transparency, as Stephen Covey says, "Light is the greatest disinfectant in nature and business".

One last comment on a certain group, the ones who are Getting it Done but not Doing it Right.  People ask me, "Do we really have to get rid of those people?"  Yes and publicly.  Most of my leadership mistakes have been people related and almost always a result of compromising this tenant.  When we have the courage to lay out the Doing it Right principles to our team, their hearts will be stirred.  The majority of humanity really wants to do the right thing. But one compromise and we become seen as a hypocrite.   Nothing punctures passion more quickly and wounds it more severely than hypocrisy in leadership.