Category Archives: Leadership

Chief Executive 101: Get In – Respond – Get Out

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As the Chief Executive, your most precious asset is time and thus your most valuable skill set, the effective use of that time. Your greatest vulnerability? Wasting tons of time trying to solve problems you have no business getting involved in. Typically, executives fall into three categories as problem solvers:

The Black & White Boss who will only make decisions when it is absolutely clear that the choice being made is the right choice. The good news is that this type tends to make some very good choices. As well, this type can be an anchor of stability for a firm. The bad news is this type doesn’t make nearly enough decisions and can hold an organization back, by being far too cautious and overly logical.

The Charismatic Driver who is big on making things happen at any cost, heavy on results but also heavy on chaos. Often highly successfully in the area of deliverables, their downside is that the people around them can feel very dominated and steamrolled. Typically, these types make for great pioneers and drivers, but struggle with sustaining strategies over the long haul.

The Zen Master Rogue who embraces a far more balanced approach to building a business. Patient yet passionate, these types tend to be able to muster a high degree of focus and effectiveness at any given moment. They seem to always be aware of and selling the Big Picture and yet, they also excel at making things happen in the day-to-day. The primary asset of this type is the fact that they are able to facilitate exceptional success through others.

The Secret Formula of The Zen Master Rogue

GET IN
There is no time to waste. You’re not emotional nor are you overly logical. It’s almost like you’re watching the situation play out in front of you, as if it’s slowly floating past you on a river. You make a rapid but quality assessment, getting just enough information as to be able to effectively proceed.

RESPOND 
Your primary mission at this point is to bring calm to the storm. You accomplish this by briefly coming in close to the situation at hand, getting the correct resources in play followed by providing some level of focus for those resources, delegating outcomes and then…

GET OUT
Once you have a strategy and team in place around an issue, your job becomes checking in on progress from afar. You are not looking for perfect compliance nor are you accepting of mediocrity, your only concern: is the issue authentically getting resolved? If yes, check back in every now and then. If not, Get In – Respond and Get Out.

Effective leaders are executives who have mastered the ability to rapidly and effectively resolve issues in a way that does not steal away more time then is absolutely necessary.

Food For Thought-
Bob Olmstead

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Management By Reaction

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Management by reaction, marketing by reaction, anything by reaction is about getting pulled into the cancerous habit of allowing situations and/or people to “trigger” you into a poorly thought out response. Such a habit only serves the short-term and rarely offers sustainable, long-term strategies that work. In fact, over the long haul, you will probably spend more time fixing the wreckage from said reactions, then benefiting from them in any sustainable way.

The solution? Grab the bull by the horns! #1- Make sure that your infrastructure, information systems and management policies insure that Red Flag issues appear on your radar long before they demand an urgent response. The later should be a mandate, not an option. #2- Reward proactive, solutions orientated behavior. #3- Refuse, no matter what, to make decisions on the fly and strongly set that tone with your team. #4- Detach from the emotion of a situation, stepping back for perspective so that you are able to take on the situation from a big picture point of view. #5- Make quality decisions that are not rushed nor delayed.

Exceptional leadership is about bringing calm to the storm, not lightening and thunder.

Food For Thought-
Bob Olmstead

PS: Spread the Word!!!  How, you ask? Just click one of those buttons below, which will connect you to Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Digg- there’s even one for emailing this blog to your network. Also by subscribing, each new post lands directly in your email. Many thanks!

 

Being Effective Vs. Being Right

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Bob- what’s up with the flood of blog posts? The answer: I am attending the BlogathonATX – 12 hours of workshops, positive Mojo and yes- blogging. Bobism’s? Mark Becker, a long-term client and friend, invented the term many years ago to title key concepts I use to advise and guide my clientele. So without further ado… enjoy the flood of Bobisms! 

As leaders, we falsely believe that being “right” is central to our effectiveness. After all, we’re paid to have the answers. Our business cards ooze with authority and cool titles that almost demand that we take charge. And so we do. We take charge. We zero in on what’s right and wrong. But is leadership truly about right and wrong, or is it more about being highly effective? And does peak effectiveness require us to be right? I am rather sure it doesn’t. We do not live in a black and white world. In fact, it’s been my experience that when a leader thinks only in terms of black and white, they tend to divide versus unite, diminish versus build.

The question to always ask is not whether something is right or wrong, but rather- what would be the most effective solution, without sacrificing your values or ethics? Doing the most effective thing is comparable to taking the higher road, the road less travelled, as poetically described by Robert Frost.

http://www.bartleby.com/119/1.html

Being effective is about taking the Big Picture into account, determining what will make the most sense over the long haul while leaving all parties involved whole, still passionately engaged. A good employee will always have flaws, just as you will always have shortcomings. The key, when those blind spots get in the way (yours or theirs), is to find the common, most effective ground from which to build solutions upon. Constantly focusing on someone’s shortcomings, however, even if you’re “right”, will only demoralize them, causing resentments and passive aggression.

A nuanced version of the “right vs effective” challenge, relates to delegation and empowering your work force. It’s very easy to keep a tight grip on key projects that could otherwise be effectively delegated, simply because you- as the CEO or senior executive, know you could do it better. Are you “right”? Perhaps you are 100% right, but that doesn’t mean that holding on is the effective thing to do, for many reasons on many levels. If you are to grow as a leader and as an organization, people need to have the room to do things their own way; they need to be able to make mistakes and thus learn from those mistakes. Deny them that ability and you deny them of their right to grow, learn and thrive. The leader that let’s his or her people fall within the context of a safe and well managed work environment, is the leader that build fierce loyalty and trust.

There are certainly instances where a clear sense of right and wrong is called for, depending upon the situation. I am not disputing that truth. However, it will be your ability discern between the two, between when a situation calls for a judgement versus common ground, that will determine whether you become a wise, people building leader- or a perfectionist that constantly breaks people down. The choice is yours to make.

Food For Thought-
Bob Olmstead

PS: Spread the Word!!!  How, you ask? Just click one of those buttons below, which will connect you to Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Digg- there’s even one for emailing this blog to your contact list. Also, by subscribing, each new post lands directly in your email. Many thanks!