Category Archives: Team

How Do You Train Others to Do Your Old Job? Four Points

Situation: A CEO has a key employee who has just been promoted to an important managerial position within the company. The task for this individual is to train others to do what he has done in the past. However. this individual feels uncomfortable training others to do what he was able to do. He feels like he is obsolescing himself. How do you coach this individual to let go of past responsibilities? How do you train others to do your old job?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • This individual was promoted because he excelled in his former job. His mastery of these skills, plus his past management background, prompted the CEO to offer him a managerial position. It is critical to understand that his job and responsibilities are no longer what they used to be.
  • As a manager, an individual is no longer expected to be a “doer”. The primary responsibility is now to select, manage, train, and promote others whose primary responsibility is “doing.”
  • As this individual is coached, encourage him to step back and look at the big picture of his new role.
    • The CEO does not expect perfection from the start. He understands from his own experience that learning management takes time.
    • However, he also knows that to become a new manager requires giving up many of the hands-on activities that one used to perform. The job is no longer to do these yourself, but to coach others to be able to perform these tasks to the standards of the firm.
    • Initially, this takes more time than “doing it yourself.” However, this individual now has talented people reporting to him and they will learn quickly. In a short while, it will take less time to delegate than to do it himself.
    • From a big picture standpoint, a manager justifies the higher salary and greater prospects that come with a new position by training his or her team to do what used to be “their job” at a lower salary than the manager’s current salary.
  • In short, in the role of manager, the better one is at developing others who can take on the skills that they used to demonstrate, the more successful that individual will be as a manager, and the more value they will bring to the Company.

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How Do You Align Company Culture? Three Approaches

Situation: A company purchased another company one year ago. While the two organizations complement each other in terms of market coverage, their cultures differ. What are the key cultural issues that the CEO should consider as they work to bring the two companies into deeper alignment? How do you align company culture?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • What are the differences between the cultures of the two companies?
    • The purchasing company’s culture is characterized as tech-savvy. They work easily across time zones; have high team autonomy; and pool back-office responsibilities and the associated expenses for more consistent management across projects. While their overall revenue is lower, they have higher revenue per revenue-producing employee.
    • The acquired company’s culture is not tech-savvy. They make little use of email or technology; have little long-distance communication or experience working across time zones; a top-down decision and management structure; and expenses are managed at the project level with little consistency in expense handling between projects. They have no HR function.
  • Look at the core values that drive each company. Compare and contrast these.
    • Are there complementary strengths on which to build synergy?
    • Are gaps in one company complemented by strengths in the other?
    • Usually, the acquiring company has to opportunity to dictate the culture of the combination. With shrewd positioning, strengths of the acquired company can provide benefits to the combination.
    • Perform a values analysis of the two companies and look for opportunities to leverage value strengths across the two companies.
  • Look for an informal opportunity to have a conversation with the principles of both companies about their motivations for agreeing to the acquisition. There are two basic options:
    • Integration and growth or diversification and investment.
    • If the purchase was for integration and growth, then the acquirer will likely want to instill their values into the acquired company.
    • If the purchase was for diversification and investment, then the acquirer may be willing to allow the acquired company considerable autonomy. However, strategies and plans should be probed to provide clarification.
    • Understanding these factors will help to determine which values and strengths of each company to combine into a unified culture.

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Is It Better to Develop Internal Resources or Hire? Four Views

Situation: A key employee will be leaving for at least 5-6 months on maternity leave. This individual is a top performer, and will be welcomed back following maternity leave should she wish to return. However, her absence will leave the company short of resources. Is it better to develop internal resources during her absence or hire a new resource?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The company’s HR strategy should complement its strategic plan as well as the CEO’s feel for market conditions.
    • If the strategy for the next year is to grow, then plan accordingly and commit to either bringing on someone new or to aggressively growing the talent already within the firm.
    • If the strategy is to hedge bets due to lack of clarity as to where the market is headed, then plan accordingly and act more conservatively.
  • Assess the availability of resources within the company.
    • Are there internal candidates who can fill the gap created by this employee’s leave? If so, then start training and developing these resources. They will be valuable as the company grows.
    • What is the company’s current workload vs. the capacity of current staff? If there is any excess capacity that can fill the gap, short-term, then use this as an opportunity to develop this excess capacity.
  • If the company has excess capacity, and is unsure about market movement six months out, develop internal capacity first.
    • This provides both additional flexibility and time to assess signs of market movement before making an investment in additional talent.
    • Plan to revisit the situation in 3 months and make another decision.
  • Keep a close eye on the market for developments, and have rapid action back-up strategies in place to respond to market conditions.

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How Can You Improve Your Time Management? Four Points

Situation: A CEO says that she fills her time with too much, leading to pressure. She is concerned that by thriving on pressure she may be sacrificing quality. Additionally, she wonders whether she is trying to do too much. How do you improve your time management?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • The real key is creating priorities, and concentrating on these. As Brian Tracy indicates in The Creative Manager, geniuses know how to concentrate fully on one thing at a time. As a corollary, multitasking is the enemy of genius and quality – it sounds neat to say that one can multitask, but the reality is that this is wasting both focus and productivity.
  • Many of the Forum members revisit their priorities daily.
  • Consider the Quadrant paradigm from Steven Covey:
Quadrant 1

Urgent + Important

This is where top CEOs spend 20-30% of their time

Characteristics:

Reactionary

Deadline-Driven

 Quadrant 2

Not Urgent + Important

This is where top CEOs spend 70-80% of their time

Characteristics:

Proactive

Planning Ahead
Quadrant 3

Urgent + Not Important (not on your high priority list)

Delegate These Tasks

 Quadrant 4

Not Urgent + Not Important

Do Not Do These Tasks

Be Aware of Them and Watch to See if They Become Important or Urgent
  • Quadrants 1 and 2 represent the highest priority tasks, and only the highest priority tasks. Quadrant 3 represents lower priority tasks. Quadrant 4 is self-explanatory.
  • As CEO, delegate many of the Q1 items to staff and spend more time in Q2.
  • Do Not spend any time in Q3 and Q4. There may be times when it is necessary to do some Q3 tasks, but keep these to an absolute minimum.
  • Use the quadrants to better manage time. Take the existing task priority list and categorize each task in the appropriate quadrant. Within each quadrant, prioritize each responsibility. Get together with the management team and delegate these tasks as appropriate. All of the Q3 tasks are areas to delegate to the team and supervise their work.
  • One of the responsibilities of management is to be the firewall for the CEO. This means keeping all Q3 and Q4 tasks off of the CEO’s plate, and handling as many Q1 tasks as possible so that the CEO can concentrate on Q2 tasks.
  • Completing this exercise should yield immediate ways to reduce existing time management pressures.

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What are Appropriate Social/Personal Interactions at Work? Three Points

Situation: A new CEO has been promoted from within the ranks of a small-to-medium sized company. He was told by the board that the promotion was based on exemplary performance and the feeling that he was ready for this responsibility. He’s been with the company for many years and has developed close relationships with co-workers. How will the promotion impact those relationships? What are appropriate social and personal interactions at work?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Consider three cases:
    • Case 1 – Even though two individuals may be friends outside of work, they do not engage as “friends” at work. There is a different role structure at work.
    • Case 2 – Coaching of children as an example: though two individuals have a friendship or close relationship outside of work, for example frequently playing golf or another sport, favoritism should not be shown toward this individual at work. Preserve the veil of trust with the other employees.
    • Case 3 – A CEO often has lunch with employees, but no other social activity outside of work. This individual often expresses a personal interest in others’ families and their families, interests and hobbies. This person takes the time to show that he or she cares about employees.
  • Just as was the case between the new CEO and the prior CEO, there is a natural distance between any employee and those individuals who evaluate or review them. The evaluators or reviewers have a power over the employee that prevents them from approaching each other as true peers.
    • Because of this natural barrier, do not try for force social or personal interactions. The best that one can do is to make sure that the others know that the CEO cares about them, has their interests in mind, and shows an interest in their families, interests and hobbies.
    • It is important to take advantage of opportunities to demonstrate an interest in others.
  • The person who asked the question mentioned the success of the CFO in building relationships with others in the office. If invited, attend these same functions. Observe and learn from the CFO’s interactions with the others. Model the CFO’s interactions but add your own individuality to this modeling. Most of all, listen actively, and patiently allow the interactions to mature. Don’t force things.

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How Do You Raise the Bar on Personal Performance? Five Suggestions

Situation: A CEO is constantly striving to increase her skills, both personal and professional. She has sought and participated in a number of workshops to facilitate ongoing improvement. Some have been helpful but others less so. What have others done to sharpen their professional skills? What about their personal skills – the human side? How do you raise the bar on personal performance?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Focus on improving and sharpening your strengths, not on overcoming or improving areas that are not so strong. Look for ways that existing strengths complement each other and build on these combinations. This will naturally yield two benefits: raising performance and bringing greater satisfaction.
  • Create personal objectives that will help to sharpen existing strengths.
  • Conversely, develop workarounds for those areas which are not as strong. Look for talents among the others within the company that address the areas which are not as strong. Have them assist in work pertaining to these areas. They will enjoy this work because it complements their strengths, and you and the company will gain the desired results.
  • Take time to reflect and to recharge the batteries. Check current objectives and assure that these objectives compliment your long-term goals. Assure that you are focusing on the right priorities for YOU.
  • Find a mentor – in or outside of your industry. This will be an individual with experience who can provide you with guidance and clarity as you address both day-to-day and long-term challenges.

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How Do You Improve Communications and Quality? Five Points

Situation: A company has a good team to support its projects. They work together well and demonstrate good work habits. However, communication between team members, and between certain team members and management is challenging, particularly when performance issues are involved. How do you improve communications and quality?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • What has been tried?
    • Once a month, The CEO plans an outside event for the team, for example a long dinner in a nice location.
    • During the latest event, the team members started opening up to one-another and to the CEO. They were much more open than they are at work.
  • Are the concerns about communication within teams, between teams, or between teams and management?
    • Several team members are relatively new. A few others are long-term and often fail to perform to standards. This group frequently has issues and it takes their foreman’s time to address these. This frustrates the foreman.
  • How should the CEO deal with this situation?
    • The foreman is a long-term employee who reports directly to the CEO. It is the responsibility of the CEO to develop a solution that serves the interests of the company.
    • For example: the company lives and breathes on customer satisfaction. Any worker with a pattern of substandard work negatively impacts both the image and value of the company.
    • Further, distracting the foreman from his primary responsibilities impacts his ability to complete other work demands.
  • Try the following solution:
    • Explain the problem and the negative impact that this has on the company.
    • Establish a policy that workers are responsible for assuring that work meets standards before completing a job.
    • Establish a list of specific standards for work and checklists to assure that the work is complete and meets standards.
    • Establish and publish a policy that if a Foreman or supervisor finds work performed below standard this will result in a warning to the worker. Continued performance of substandard work becomes grounds for termination. Misrepresentation of work quality is grounds for immediate termination.
    • Ask key managers, supervisors and foremen for input on the policy.
    • Once the policy is finalized, post it, provide all employees with a copy of the policy, and make sure that it is openly communicated to them both verbally and in writing.
  • If any worker currently presenting problems persists in this behavior, the company will have established a policy and procedure for disciplinary action and, if necessary, termination.

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What Can be Learned from Employee Departures? Five Observations

Situation: A company has recently seen the departure of several younger employees. Reasons given were better offers at other companies. These employees have been replaced by what appears to be better talent. The CEO took these departures personally and is concerned about the impact on the departments of those who departed. What can be learned from employee departures?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • In working with Millennial employees, it may be necessary to lower your expectations in terms of employee loyalty, work ethic and longevity. Millennials have a different perspective. Recognize this and build expectations around it.
  • Be frank with new employees up front. Plan their career progression out 36 to 48 months and let them know that this time will give them great training. If they are interested in the company and career progression beyond this, then the company be open to discussing options with them.
  • Use outside resources to do a 2–3-month post-op on those who left, as well as to help monitor employee attitudes on an ongoing basis.
    • The outside resource can conduct interviews by telephone, on a confidential basis. The objective will be to assess the reasons why the employees left once the emotions of the action have died down. Summary results of the interviews will not identify the past employee. This will prompt them to be frank with their feedback.
    • Similarly, use an outside resource to conduct confidential telephone interviews with random current employees on a periodic basis. Let the employees know that they will be contacted by an outside agency on a random basis, and that their responses will be confidential. The purpose is to gain information on how the company can better address employee needs in the work environment. Only aggregated and summary results will be presented to the company.
    • These actions will help to assess whether the departures were an extraordinary event or an early warning of more systemic challenges within the workforce.
  • The increased salary needs of those who left may be symptomatic of the current economic conditions.
    • Currently, the need of companies to attract talent has increased pressure to raise wages. Along with this and there is increased turnover among employees who believe that they can make more elsewhere. There is little that can be done to run a sensible business while trying to keep up with current salary demands.
    • Most companies who survive successive boom and bust cycles do not respond to wage pressure, knowing that each boom will be followed by a bust.
    • Once the next bust sets in, wage demands will go down until the next boom cycle starts.
  • Should anything to mitigate the impact of employee departure on their departments?
    • Keep ears open for any sign of an ongoing impact.
    • As above, consider an outside resource to check the temperature of the employees.
    • The best mitigation may be a strong integration of the new, energetic R&D employees into the team.

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How Do You Position Yourself as the New Leader? Five Points

Situation: A medium-sized company has just been acquired. A long-term employee has been named CEO of the entity. During his tenure with the company, he has established solid relationships within the company and is well-respected. He understands that he is no longer a co-worker but is now CEO. How does he best position himself to both employees and to the acquirer? How do you position yourself as the new leader?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Proactively engage the team in a dialogue about the direction and potential of the company. Focus comments on the positive and the potential of the firm and the combined entity. The acquirer is bringing a new sense of excitement and energy to the firm. They will be looking for key leaders who share their excitement.
  • Market yourself to the new owners.
    • Develop a list of hopes, desires, and needs.
    • Dialogue with the acquirers and learn their hopes and dreams for the combined entity.
    • Look for synergies between your and their hopes and desires. Create your own marketing campaign around these synergies.
    • Position yourself an essential member of their transition team.
  • Select a mentor from the acquirer. Actively seek out their advice and guidance. Use them as a sounding board as you develop your campaign as new CEO.
    • The new organization is now just a plan and may be very flexible.
    • Ask acquirers about the model that they see. What are their key objectives for the first year? What niche do they wish to fill buy acquiring the company? As the key liaison between the company and acquirer bring value to the transaction.
    • When speaking to them, listen for their questions of how they see you fitting into the organization. This will present an opportunity to define your role by addressing their key needs during and after the transition.
  • The same suggestions apply to an individual receiving a promotion within the same company.

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What’s the Optimum Business Strategy: Going Broader or Deeper? Five Points

Situation: A CEO wants to expand her company’s business base, either by diversifying its client base, or by going deeper into current clients. What are some of the key questions that should be considered as they evaluate these two alternatives? What’s the optimum business strategy – going broader or deeper?

Advice of the Forum:

  • If the company diversifies, what will be the perception of current clients?
    • Will they see this as more or less beneficial to their interests?
  • What are the most important objectives – what is leadership trying to achieve? Does the response to this question weigh in favor or one or the other alternative?
  • Analyze the available markets, as well as the company’s current share of the existing market. Is the company the dominant player in its market or is there still ample growth opportunity by investing in deeper penetration of the existing market?
  • Are there important vulnerabilities regarding the current client base? Is the company too dependent on a small number of customers? What will happen if key customers decide to choose another vendor or to develop internal resources to meet their needs?
  • For the option to go deeper into the current client base, what is the resource match between the objective and current resources?
    • Do current employees have the appropriate competencies?
    • What is the available time and dollars to pursue the market?
    • What is the ROI target and what are the risks?
    • Does the company have the right infrastructure to pursue the market, or will it require developing additional infrastructure? What is the cost of development in time, money and resources?
    • It is an area in which the company can excel, and does it align with the passion and drive of the current business focus?

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