Author Archives: Sandy

About Sandy

Publisher, Ceo2Ceos.com Adjunct Instructor, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute

How Do You Correct Inappropriate Behavior of a Productive Employee? Four Points

Situation: A CEO has a key manager who frequently uses inappropriate language and demonstrates lack of care towards co-workers. This individual is smart, has great drive, and does the work formerly handled by two employees. How do you correct inappropriate behavior of a productive employee?

Advice from the CEOs:

Create a firm company policy on swearing and the use of inappropriate or abusive language.
- Each time any individual swears or uses inappropriate language, they must put $1 into a pot. Anybody can call anyone else for swearing and the one who’s caught has to pay. The money in the pot goes to buy pizza on Fridays.
- This is a creative and even entertaining solution and should resolve the problem in a short time.
Sit down with this individual and go over their positives and value. Besides these, emphasize which behaviors are unacceptable.
- Explain the legal implications and consequences for the individual and company. Provide goals and set objectives.
Send this individual alone or with a team to a Pryor Customer Relationship seminar, for example the seminar “How to Communicate with Tact and Professionalism”.
- Let the instructor know in advance that you want to be sure that certain behaviors are covered during the seminar.
- This may provide the individual the incentive to behave like an owner of the business.
Make it clear who’s in charge, and at whose discretion the individual remains with the company.

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How Do You Use Focus and Communication to Strengthen Your Leadership? Three Points

Situation: A CEO is curious about how others have strengthened their leadership skills over time. From discussions with other CEOs she has gathered that focus and communication are important strengths to build. How do you use focus and communication to strengthen your leadership?

Advice from the CEOs:

Often the process is more important than the actual decision because the process frames how the decision is made.
- If the process is open to new ideas and approaches, and these are welcomed in the discussion, this can generate both more creative decisions as well as increased buy-in to the ultimate decision being made.
One CEO finds that his company is always focused on the outcome. However, he has grown to understand that it is important to frame the decision-making process around your values.
- Value-based decisions not only generate increased buy-in by all involved, but they strengthen the sense of company culture and values.
Another CEO was faced with a personnel issue. She found that by analyzing past decision-making processes company leadership was able to identify a previously unrecognized factors and processes that fed the personnel issue.
- By addressing the process, the company was able to resolve the issue to the satisfaction of all.

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How Do You Focus Your Team? Six Points

Situation: Several CEOs asked how others have had success improving company performance and is interested in how they focused their teams. How do you focus your team?

Advice from the CEOs:

Important tasks for any company are to validate the value proposition, technology, target customer, and the rate of market expansion, and minimize risk and liability. This should be a regular company exercise – not a one-time event.
Assuming that a company has goals and people who can align with and achieve them, a company needs a vision – the broader strategic picture of where they are going. Often some of the best ideas come from line staff who are enabled by their company’s culture.
It is critical that companies are able to quickly identify problems and have systems in place to drive problem resolution. The minigame technique is very useful in these cases.
Companies should have a plan for transitioning employees into new roles as the company grows. The key is clear identification of the individual’s role within the company, and how that role compliments achievement of company objectives.
If a company wants to grow sales from, say, $20 to $60 million, it will need a professional sales leader. In addition, growth may require a change in company culture from engineering and development centric to sales centric.
A significant challenge is determining how to define corporate success. Much depends upon the questions asked. The Great Game of Business by Jack Stack provides guidelines and tools for assessing options. Anyone starting or growing a business should look at this book.

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How Do You Improve a Company’s Profile and Diversify the Customer Base? Seven Points

Situation: The CEO of a high tech company wants to improve the profile of his company for prospective clients. He also wants to diversify the company’s customer base. How do you improve a company’s profile and diversify the customer base?

Advice from the CEOs:

Develop a good description that easily expresses the company’s value proposition.
- Test this with potential customers to assure that they easily grasp what the company has to offer – and are interested in paying for!
If the company is early-stage, focus on funding and proof of concept as early milestones.
- If the company has a novel idea or capability, focus on proving the value of this capability to a buying customer base of sufficient value to interest investors.
Study and define customers’ needs before trying to communicate what the company can do for them.
- Similarly, define the channels that will be most effective in reaching these customers.
To monetize the business focus on the seekers – those who need and will benefit from the product or services that is being offered.
- If the company offers a free or low cost service, develop a premium offer for enhanced services.
To market a core set of skills to different customer markets, focus on a theme of reliability.
- Flavor this theme differently through a branding exercise to address the needs and desires of specific customer segments.
- It is both feasible and desirable to market the same set of skills differently to different customer markets.
Follow the money – it leads to the heart of customer purchase decisions.
Growth, momentum and the ability to change are essential parts of a successful business model.

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How Do You Improve Morale and Performance in a Professional Services Company? Four Observations

Situation: The CEO of a professional service company says that his employees have been through a lot of stress over the last few years. He wants to improve company morale to boost performance and is interested in how others have done this. How do you improve morale and performance in a professional services company?

Advice from the CEOs:

Manage Morale and Employee Feedback – In times of economic change and adjustment, it is important to have a good handle on what employees are thinking about their jobs and the company as a whole. The use of anonymous surveys administered via computer or a neutral 3^rd party generally yields more objective and honest feedback than 1-on-1s with the CEO. They offer employees an opportunity to anonymously share their concerns, and to offer constructive feedback on how to boost company performance.
NOW is the time to act – whether the economy is positioned for a rebound or another dip. Employees have dealt with a lot over the last few years and may be starting to look at opportunities outside the company. Therefore, it is important, right now, to put programs in place to:
- Retain high performing employees, and
- Communicate to employees what the company is doing to position itself for growth so that they see a bright future for both the company and themselves as employees within the company.
Professional services are people-to-people businesses. Focus on relationship building to increase market presence. Recognize and reward employees for their efforts to build new relationships with clients. Use these as examples to inspire other employees.
Many more women have entered and become an important component of the workforce. Conduct group meetings to compare the experiences of male and female sales people in relationship selling situations. These will differ between purchase decision makers in different markets and situations where one gender vs. the other predominates. Sharing experiences offers the potential to learn from and to support each other as well as to improve performance. Ask employees how these meetings should be conducted and whether they prefer same or mixed gender meetings.

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How Do You Boost the Performance of a Life Sciences Company? Six Suggestions

Situation: The CEO wants to improve the performance of her life sciences company. She has questions about the business plan and roles within the company. She is also looking for better ways to connect with current and potential customers. How do you boost the performance of a life sciences company?

Advice from the CEOs:

Assess both your own role and the company to ensure that there is good alignment between the business plan and the roles within the company.
Be strategic after assessing the company’s needs and situation. Too often companies jump to tactical considerations because they are action oriented. To be effective, tactics must align with the broader company strategy.
Build a foundation based on value and compliment this with effective models to communicate and leverage this value base.
Think outside the box. Consider options to use or increase the effectiveness of social networking. This has growing dramatically in importance as a way to reach and communicate with key current and potential constituencies.
Perception is important. Be aware of what others think of the company and work creatively to present the company in a light that will support objectives.
The visual cortex represents 75% of sensory awareness. Leverage this on web sites and in marketing campaigns.

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How Do You Optimize Your Product Offering? Four Points of Focus

Situation: A CEO wants to take better advantage of his company’s product offering. There are many opportunities available, but the company needs more focus on optimizing these opportunities. How do you optimize your product offering?

Advice from the CEOs:

Brand – Where has the company been? Where is it going? The world is constantly changing – what’s the company’s new brand? The brand identifies the company and both your customers’ and business partners’ identification of the company and its products and/or services. In a changing world with increased competition and “noise,” having a strong handle on the brand and brand message is critical to remaining at the top of customers’ and partners’ awareness.
Education/Customer Advocacy – An underutilized source of marketing strength includes both customer education and customer advocacy. Customer education allows the company to better position its product and/or service to the customer and helps the customer better meet unrecognized needs. Customer advocacy positions the company along with its customers in an area of mutual interest and strengthens both bonds and loyalty.
Diversification & Channels – In a changing and rapidly diversifying world, being open to new opportunities and channels through which to reach the company’s stakeholders is a source of sustainable advantage.
Partnerships to Take Advantage of Diversification & Channel Opportunities – Partnerships are an underutilized resource to creatively diversify and open new channels to stakeholders. They require less investment than doing everything on your own and can form the basis for key alliances and strengths going forward.

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How Do You Position a Professional Services Company for Growth? Part 2 Three Suggestions

Situation: The CEO of a professional services company wants to position her company for growth. What suggestions do others have to assist her? How do you position a professional services company for growth?

Advice from the CEOs:

Make Time for Organizational Development – Attention to organizational development and enhancing the organization so that it meets the needs of employees can yield significant dividends in terms of company performance and adaptability. When employees’ needs are met, they are motivated to extend their efforts both in performing their current roles and to develop new ideas that will benefit the company. Be sure to recognize these efforts.
Temp to Perm (Even for Hiring Leaders) – As the economy recovers there remains a high level of uncertainty as to how robust the recovery will be. In light of this, additions to staff may be approached cautiously. The temp to perm route offers a way for a new individual and the company to get to know one another and to test mutual fit before making a full commitment to permanent employment. This can be true even for positions of significant leadership within the company.
Meet the Unrecognized Needs of Customers – The top of the Customer Pyramid is meeting unrecognized needs – needs which the customer may not even know that they have. In a world of increased competition and rapid change, finding ways to understand, anticipate and meet these unrecognized needs of customers yields a significant competitive advantage. Brainstorm with your sales, marketing and customer service teams to identify unrecognized needs of past customers. Use the results to identify unrecognized needs of current and new customers.

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How Do You Position a Professional Services Company for Growth? Part 1 Three Suggestions

Advice from the CEOs:

Focus on Dynamic Processes – The world and business environments are changing rapidly in response to economic, business and political stimuli. This places a premium on developing dynamic and highly adaptable business models. Companies that develop these models will have a much more sustainable competitive advantage than those who do not.
Leverage Information – Along with rapid change comes a great deal of new information. Companies with a sustainable competitive advantage will leverage information from both traditional and new sources to develop new opportunities and new applications for older but still valuable technologies and processes.
Be Sensitive to Cultural Issues – The expanding global economy means that customers, suppliers and employees will come from all over the world, bringing with them different cultural backgrounds. By adapting business models to address and respond to varying cultural needs – by celebrating differences instead of being inhibited by them – a company enhances its competitive advantage.

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How Do You Make the Most of People, Processes and Technology? Four Points

Situation: A CEO wants to improve efficiency and use of people, processes and technology. What have others learned from their experience? How do you make the most of people, processes and technology?

Advice from the CEOs:

One CEO gained new insights on the importance of details within the decision making process. She learned that details have had a much greater impact on the outcome of the decision process than her company had previously appreciated.
Cost reductions may cost more than they save. If the longer-term vision for the company isn’t considered a company may make short-term decisions that actually cost more in the long-term.
Difficult times equal opportunity. The key is keeping your head together and approaching challenges objectively, with an eye to long-term consequences of the choices made.
Always maintain balance in both choices, decisions and execution. There will be surprises along the path. Open eyes and balanced consideration will help to address these surprises constructively.

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