Tag Archives: Latitude

How Do You Maintain the Chain of Command? Three Suggestions

Situation: A CEO finds that some employees are going directly to her to address issues or suggestions rather than working with their managers to develop solutions. She is concerned on two fronts. First, these matters should be handled between the employee and their manager. Second, this distracts her from higher priorities facing the company. How should the CEO convey this to both the manager and the employee. How do maintain the chain of command?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Concerning the situation where a manager’s direct report is going to the CEO, what is the follow-up with both the manager and the employee?
  • The message to the manager:
    • You are in your role for a reason.
    • You are accountable, and your responsibility is for your team to deliver against company strategy and plans.
    • If this situation is repeated I will send these questions back to you, and will count on you to keep me in the loop as appropriate to assure that the solutions are consistent with company policy and objectives.
  • The message team member
    • It’s okay to share your thoughts with me.
    • But in the case of new ideas or suggestions, you need to bring these to your manager so that your manager understands what is going on and can coordinate your suggestions with the activities and priorities of the team.
  • How do you set boundaries so as not to step on the toes of managers?
    • Set deliverables for the managers, but leave them the authority and latitude to manage those who report to them.
    • If an employee comes to the CEO rather than their manager, refer them back to their manager.
    • After the fact, follow-up with the manager to assure that the issue or suggestion has been addressed.
    • HR issues are handled through the HR process, not by the CEO.

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How Do You Align Vision Among Leadership? Three Approaches

Situation: The CEO of a software company finds that she and her #2 don’t have the same vision for the company concerning objectives and what is required to reach these objectives. In addition, key employees are reaching retirement age. The company needs to bring in new employees to learn the skills of those who will retire. How can these challenges be addressed? How do you align vision among leadership?

Advice from the CEOs:

  • Consider the following approach:
    • Add 1-2 people and bring them up to speed within the company so that they can step into the roles of the employees who are nearing retirement.
    • Focus the CEO’s role on creating the development outline and priorities, assisting in closing significant sales opportunities, participating in industry seminars to publicize the company’s capabilities, and guiding administration and finance.
    • Focus the #2’s role on assuming a greater role in new software development and customer support and have this person delegate and oversee internal technology development and code maintenance.
  • In pursuing this approach take the following steps:
    • Buttress the CEO’s skills with another developer who knows the key software, and who can maintain this for the company long-term.
    • Shift development from individual efforts to a collaborative atmosphere to ease and speed integration of new code into the company’s software.
    • Reduce the CEO’s day-to-day administrative role.
    • Increase the #2’s role in software development and reduce focus on maintenance and internal technology.
    • Add an additional resource in sales/marketing to boost company growth.
  • How to Get There?
    • Allow the #2 the latitude to start developing some of his own ideas for new tools or products.
    • Bring in a “marriage counselor” to assist the CEO and the #2 to define a common understanding.
    • One focus will be to establish that they clearly respect and value each other’s talents and contributions. The other focus will be to work through objectives and requirements where there has been difficulty reaching consensus.

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