Vision Driven: Lessons Learned from the Small Business C-Suite. Mallary JD Tytel
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Leaders build alliances within and among units as needed to achieve high performance on the stated objectives. They encourage collaboration and teamwork, actively contributing to cohesiveness and cooperation among associates. As team players, they are concerned with the entire organization and their cooperative spirit extends beyond their immediate units or departments. They deal with others effectively to encourage them to build and sustain alliances.
Problem-solving: Leaders consistently demonstrate insight in analyzing problems, determining practical solutions and effectively implementing decisions. They carefully consider consequences; after recognizing a problem, they make timely, practical and cost-effective decisions.
Planning: Leaders set appropriate goals and priorities while consistently defining accountabilities and the work at hand. They anticipate change and arrange work activities to achieve results.
Initiative/Innovation: Leaders are self-starters, willing and able to take independent action. They demonstrate original thinking, ingenuity and creativity in developing new or improved methods and procedures. They routinely exert extra effort in getting the job done while pursuing acceptance of new ideas and anticipating solutions to emerging situations.
Global Perspective: Leaders maintain a big-picture perspective for the organization, accepting their functional role from a corporate stance.
Employee Relations: Leaders foster a productive working environment, taking steps to promote the appropriate participation, development and maximum utilization of all employees. They also deal with employee concerns effectively.
What steps can you take to strengthen your own leadership team?
5
Managing Change
“It is not necessary to change. Survival is not mandatory.”
W. Edwards Deming
This we know: Change is an unavoidable fact of life, and even in the best of circumstances, it can be difficult. Individuals and organizations worldwide are confronting more turbulent markets, more demanding shareholders and more discerning customers. They are all scrambling to meet the challenges of the day. In every aspect of our lives - personal, professional and in our environment - each one of us faces both wanted and unwanted changes.
That is what transitions are all about. Change is defined as an external event or situation, whereas transition is the total reorientation that happens within us. How will you meet the challenge? What are the tools and skills you have to weather the potential storms and find safe harbor? Are you prepared?
According to Dr. William Bridges, one of the foremost thinkers and authors in the areas of change management and personal transition, our feelings about change are the result of our approach to managing (and enjoying!) the journey from here to there, rather than from announcing the destination. Initially we may respond to change with confusion, questions, doubts and a loss of identity. Soon, though, our transition moves from denial and resistance to exploration of the possibilities and finally we progress to commitment.
While we may not be able to control the change around us, we have significant power over how we travel through it.
Think about a significant change you have weathered.
•Was it planned or unexpected?
•What was your role in the change process?
•What was within your control and/or sphere of influence?
•How did you feel before, during and after the transition?
•And now ...?
All systems, including businesses and organizations, follow a lifecycle that allows for birth, maturity, creative destruction (change!) and renewal. Remembering that change is both implicit and explicit and allows for growth and development helps us to focus on the positive and maintain our resiliency.
Think about your organization today. What has changed since you joined the company? What is the same?
6
The Three B’s of Quality
“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”
Henry Ford
If we mean what we say about quality products and services, we need a framework by which to judge our actions and activities, projects and processes. I created the idea of the “Three B’s” as a user-friendly model to do just that.
•You start with a Baseline. This means documenting the present state of the process or product, including current performance, productivity and process levels. Where are you right now? Collect, store, and analyze that data or situation.
•Next you seek out and identify Benchmarks, those standard measurements against which similar businesses, products, processes or systems are judged. Continually monitor your performance against the organizations that are recognized as “world class” achievers. Where do you stand or fall? Recognize how and why those benchmarks were identified. What would “world class” productivity look like in your organization?
•Finally, you aspire to Best Practices. Your goal is to adopt and create practices that demonstrably reduce defects or costs or improve efficiency to a higher level of results. More importantly, you wow your customers and achieve a level of competence and capacity at the highest level. This is where you want to be. Imagine your customer and employee attitudes and actions when you are here.
This all sounds fine but how do you help your staff take their first step in understanding the “wheres and hows” of the process? By focusing on quality, try engaging everyone in a simple brainstorm that brings concepts home to the group.
If these are your standards or benchmarks, it is up to each individual (significant other) in the organization (relationship) not only to stop and assess their own situations (creating a baseline), but to benchmark where they fall within the whole spectrum of possibilities (percentage of happily married couples with like criteria) and set their sights on the best practice (celebrating a joyous Diamond Wedding Anniversary surrounded by generations of family and friends). Now, just imagine if your starting point is the best practice.
What would your own 3-B framework look like for home or for work?
7
Thinking about the Future
“When men speak of the future, the Gods laugh.”
Chinese Proverb
Part of being human is our desire to predict and control the future. As we become more intelligent and as technology advances, we are constantly learning a thing or two about how much influence we really do have on future events. Forget about psychics and crystal balls; nowadays computer simulations and algorithms present us with sophisticated options for thinking about the future. Of course, there are no guarantees.
In order to shape a preferred future you need to have a picture in your mind of what it is you really want.
Let’s take a page from futurists, seers and planners. Imagine it is ten years from now. Think about how old you will be. How old will your children be? How old will your closest friend be? Now let that thought grow.
•What