Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Quickly Assess: Are My Managers A Team?
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Q. As a new company president of a struggling company with 500 employees, the Board’s first recommendation is to assess all of my managers and evaluate if they are capable of working a turn-around. What should I look for in my team?
A. Assessing and understanding the whole organization is step number one. Talk individually to all of your senior managers and then as a team. Second, listen to as many employees as you can, in small groups and in a few Town Hall meetings. As you create your direction and vision for the company, circle back to your individual executives.
As you explore their thinking, you will hear some talk about the past and problems and barriers. Others will talk about opportunities, customers, possible new markets and products/services, and the future. Some may be stuck in the past; others are craving to create a new future. Your job is to inspire them to move forward together toward a new Aim. What is the purpose they have together? Articulate it. Do they see how they contribute toward it and lead others toward it?
Since this is a turn-around situation, you need your team to move fast. Mutual trust is essential. If you can trust and develop them quickly, move forward. If any will hold you back, express your concerns to him/her and what you need from them immediately. If they cannot deliver, it’s best to either find them a coach to help them transform, or respectfully remove them from the company.
There are leaders who can take action quickly and get the job done, often referred to as sprinters. They are visionary, full of creative ideas and anxious to implement them. For a turn-around you need sprinters (as well as in start-ups.) But to sustain and develop systems and processes that will continually be improved with data-driven decision-making in context, you need teams of people committed for the long term. These are marathoners. At different times, in different industries and organizations, you may need more of one group than another.
Q. I’ve been promoted to my first management position with very supportive team members. My observation is that we work well together, but make decisions too slowly. How can we accelerate?
A. There are questions to consider when making decisions, especially rapidly. You want to make effective decisions, not reactive ones. Let’s consider the essential dots that go into making wise decisions. First, the Aim: what are you trying to accomplish or solve? Who are you serving with this decision? What do you currently know about the issue/process? Often decisions are made by opinions, off the cuff, with any qualitative or quantitative data. Look at data you have (or gather it) and look for stability, variation, or trends Over Time. What do you learn? What is the timeline or deadline for making a decision? Plan what you’re going to do and who will do what, make your decision based on the data in context, implement the decision, and then follow through. Study what worked, what didn’t. Learn together, adjust, fine tune, and modify. Decision-making is a process. Some can be continually improved. Think of all of the medical and technological research and breakthroughs. Others decisions are made immediately with the best information and thinking at the moment. These decisions are responses during a crisis situation. Determine how to quickly make good decisions and continually improve the steps. Practice helps.
Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!
