Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Forward Thinking Language Drives Success

Q. Some of our managers who have been here a long time use language and vocabulary with us that is depressing, pessimistic, and sometimes caustic. How do we get them to change?

A. The language that the managers use is probably what they learned from their managers years ago, and it hasn’t been questioned or challenged. That doesn’t excuse it. But It has helped create your culture or pockets of fear-based departments or teams. If your workplace is depressing and pessimistic, it is also probably stuck and not as forward-thinking as it could be. That impacts relationships, productivity, turnover, and profits.

Managers (and others who use poor language) are usually unaware of its impact on their own health and the health of everyone around them, i.e. the organization. There are conversations and exercises that can be taught that open people’s eyes together to better ways of communication. For some who still are stuck in their fixed thinking, some one-to-one conversations are most helpful. Some people have never been aware that their management style was destructive. Often, people who become aware of the negative impact they’ve had, are shocked and dismayed. They pivot their behavior abruptly and commit to a new, way to communicate and behave. A personal transformation can be fast and refreshing.

People can shift their vocabulary and shift their thinking to the future, supporting each other, and serving customers. A significant part of this is to also look at your whole organization and how it works. Partnerships with vendors are another essential part of a business’s success, and it is often assumed and overlooked. Building win-win relationships show that leaders know how to build respect and trust—critical in the business environment today.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: What’s Your Company Culture's Health?

Q. People are mean to each other in our company, especially to the women. How do we turn this around and have a kind culture?

A. Some people in workplaces are kind while others are dysfunctional and toxic. Over a career, many people experience a manager who is a micromanager, a bully, demeaning and demanding. Sometimes everyone is aware of it, and other times the bad behavior is hidden while the victim is intimidated and afraid to speak up. Some people reach out to HR, but it’s ineffective when nothing is done to change the situation.

Again, it’s up to leadership to transform the culture and workplace and create a healthy environment for people to contribute. Leaders can make a list of values, but they must communicate them, live them, and most have to define what the behaviors, language, and interactions will be in the organization. Their role is to ensure that people are able to contribute.

The role of leaders (with titles as well as teams) is to identify the bears and barriers to people learning and working together. Together everyone needs to become aware of the fears in the organization and then together to reduce them. The best way is to create opportunities for more communication in order to build trust.

Before and through the pandemic, there were different ways that people attacked or criticized, and judged other people. Healthy companies have no-tolerance policies. People need to call out bad behaviors (children are taught this in schools, yet adults don’t do it as often as they need to.)

Sadly, bad behavior by a few executives or managers has been common for years, and people have tolerated it. Many times, it’s very covert—and harmful to individuals, teams, and the culture.

The surprise for many is that the bullies are unaware that they are bullies—and the impact that they have. Others are aware, but feel they have every right to judge, criticize, belittle, and give negative feedback to their “subordinates.”

These businesses (any organization) suffer over time with poor morale, low productivity, high turnover and poor retention, and a decline in results including profits. Leadership must focus on transforming the culture and mindset in the company. Or it will eventually flounder and fail.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Do You Appreciate Your Support Team?

Q. The management team has an almost entirely new support staff after we celebrated several retirements after several decades of service. How do we onboard several new executive assistants and expand their team as we grow?

A. Transitioning the knowledge of retiring employees is helpful. Did you or can you look at your organization and anticipate retirements so you can prepare and plan how to transition and capture the knowledge of your retirees? If they have retired, perhaps you can hire them for a few hours periodically over the next few weeks to teach and onboard your new hires. As your prepare for retirees to leave, how can others on the team and in your organization learn their processes and responsibilities? Ideally, there’s a transition time. Often, retirees agree to answer questions for a new hire.

Executive assistants (EAs) and administrative and support staff are often the hubs of the organization. The flow of work, decisions, signoffs, communication, and information flow across their “desks.” Their continuing professional development is essential. They have been identified for their roles because of some of these traits: natural leadership, communication skills, decisiveness, ability to assess priorities and adapt as needed, follow-through, self-motivated and taking the initiative, and asking pertinent and timely questions. They move from strategic issues to getting the job done and actions are taken.

As with any role, continual education and improvement are an investment smart leaders make in their staff. In a rapidly changing workplace (and society), increasing their knowledge and skills to work with uncertainty and disruption, pivot to meet new needs, and help the teams and organization succeed is paramount. As a management team works to innovate and move into the future, the leadership framework needs to be understood and used by all.

Your EA support team has a large role in many businesses. Not only are they juggling and organizing, but they are also helping foster a collaborative culture, increase information and communication flow, reduce waste and complexity, develop healthy relationships, and ensure your customer’s (internal and external) needs are being heard and addressed. Elevating their knowledge and appreciating their contributions are essential.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Continual Improvement is Not Enough

Q. We believe in continually improving in our company, but we’ve become stagnant. What’s wrong?

A. Leading your company and accelerating its growth means having a foundational business strategy. It’s like using a three-legged stool if you want stability and growth. The three interdependent strategies are: quality, continual improvement, and innovation. In detail, quality is defined by the customer and made by the Board/Executive team. Be in continual contact with your customers to understand them.

Continually improving means working together to make the products, services, customer experiences, better and better. But only improving is not enough. We can make a better and better carriage, but that won’t get us to a car, or a flying car. New and creative ideas that are taken to market or made useful is innovation. And it is needed to survive and move into the future.

Q. What are the best management tools I can access to help my management team lead?

A. Once you have defined and clarified why you are in business and your mindset for serving your markets, your teams will create and implement the strategies and methods. There are both strategic and analytical tools that you can use. Find a good teacher to facilitate the use of the tools. The more complex the business, the more sophisticated the tools may need to be. Especially when using statistical tools for important decisions, make sure to hire someone with experience and knowledge. There are now thousands of data analytics tools being used that can result in poor decisions. Too much data science has now become a fad. Not everything needs to be measured, in fact very little does.

Begin with strategic thinking and the tools that support them: the Strategic Compass and system diagrams, and deployment flow charts. Management tools that help leaders focus and prioritize include the affinity diagram, Pareto chart, cause-and effect diagram, force-field analysis, control charts and run charts, the 5 Why’s, and histograms. Always use several tools because each contributes to showing you a different perspective. The tools together help you see the big picture. The caution is, don’t over-measure, or you’ll run into analysis-paralysis.

Q. Our teams believe communication is their number one issue and challenge. What can we do to improve?

A. Of all the leadership traits and capabilities, communication is one of the most essential. What do leaders of any team need to communicate to be effective? Clarity of the purpose and direction of the organization is mandatory. But repeating it 100 times a day in various ways so everyone understands it and how they fit in to it is rare—but that’s what leaders do. They share what customers need, modify the words so different people understand it fully, and then they listen. They ask people what help they need, what support they need, what resources they need. They ask, “what’s getting int. eh way of you doing your job? How can I help? What do we need to do?” People working together can also build trust and reduce fears that may exist.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leading Through Financial Uncertainty

Q. Sales are stable, but profits are declining. What can we do?

A. You need an assessment of your organization. There are probably multiple factors that are internally diminishing your profits. In short, waste and complexity are building; you need to find it and reduce it. You accomplish this by making a flow diagram of your work from the moment the order comes in from a customer until the time you deliver. Where are the bottlenecks? Where are the resources constrained? The challenges may be information flow, communication flow, or workflow, or all three. There may be supply chain issues. Or there might be cultural issues that need to be addressed. It’s time to look for root causes. To accelerate the discovery, bring an objective outside in to investigate what is happening. Some things that are not working in the system are producing the results you don’t want. See what you can learn. Then make plans to improve and innovate.

Q. The headlines are reporting inflation, slowdowns, and layoffs. How do we decide if we do layoffs or tighten our budget?

A. Your answer depends. What’s your cash flow position? How are changes you read about impacting your industry, community, and customers? Always during change, some companies decline while others boom. As a team, look at your short and long-term plans, goals, and resources. Sometimes it’s wise to be aware and stay the course. Or you may choose to modify your plans. The important point is, don’t react. Don’t lay off people to say a dollar. We are in times when finding experienced employees is challenging, so don’t layoff staff unnecessarily. Leaders who think long-term and value employees do not lead a company and lay off staff, especially if they are cash rich. That is a last resort because of the damage it does to morale, even for the people who don’t lose their jobs. Often, leaders put problems and issues out to workers to help get ideas, feedback, and to guide their decision-making.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leadership Means Learning

Q. There’s a gap in communication with employees in the past year? What’s happened, and how do I fix it?

A. The role of leadership is to learn, understand and create a place where people can discuss issues and solve them together. No one person has all the answers, so ask for help. Ask for ways to handle issues that come up. If only a few people have to solve all the challenges and problems for a company, anxiety and mistakes mount. Use all the resources in your company, as well as outside perspectives. When you’re IN the system, you often are not objective. Education and training help. Asking questions help. The more people talk, the more communication flows and fears and problems often dissipate. Communication builds trust.

Q. Young people join the company, work an hour or two hours and need a break. After a few weeks, they want a promotion. What is the current work ethic? What can I expect?

A. Leaders create the culture. New employees and recent graduates often have different expectations; they want more freedom and autonomy. It’s your job to learn the characteristics and values of your prospective employees in the interviewing process. Find out what they most value. What experience did they have from their home environment, school experience, and any internships? It’s easier to hire for skills, but newer generations have different thinking (they developed a different work ethic from home and school oftentimes.) Will your new hires fit your culture? Does your culture need to adapt (and how) to hire enough new employees? Earlier generations often had jobs through high school and college. Some students in current generations had parents that didn’t promote having a job or doing chores, and they had free time to engage with their devices. Communicating expectations in the hiring process, describing your culture and your/their expectations, onboarding and training, and having a mentor/coach may be essential elements you need to add for your future.

Q. My management team is stuck. We have hired some diverse and younger managers in the past months, and they ask very different questions. Our senior managers struggle with some of the new ideas, fast pace, and new technology. What can we do?

A. At first, introducing diversity (change) may be uncomfortable. It is new, different, not the way things have been done in the past. Some people resist change or being changed. Other people welcome it. To integrate the people into the changing culture, pivot the leadership thinking and culture to become a learning organization. Create teams where people focus on the work, but people identify what their knowledge and strengths are and what they’re able to contribute. Also, as people work together, have them identify what they need help learning. Not everyone will bring the same strengths—if they did it would be redundant and boring. Continue to create hubs of communication, where people with customer and company history/knowledge can share and mentor others. Younger people may bring in new ideas they’ve learned recently. Emphasize that the more people learn and communicate together, the stronger the team becomes.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: When Soft Skills are Lacking

Q. As the new president of a technology company, I’ve found a culture full of technical skills, but lacking in ability to lead, manage, communicate, problem solve, or work effectively as a team together. How do I rapidly develop more well-rounded people?

A. Leaders who appreciate their people (tap into their intrinsic motivators, rather than extrinsic motivators) and invest in them will often experience a rapid, powerful return on their investment. In recent years people weren’t continually developing new skills and knowledge together. Leaders are creative and seek new ways to show appreciation and develop their teams. One way to learn what will work with your staff is to ask them: What do they need? What do they want? What kind of organization do they want to be part of? Create teams to come up with ideas and plans to make improvements. They can engage and contribute more in an environment that they can take ownership in.

Q. How do we create a culture that is more collaborative and successful?

A. If you want people to learn, work, and problem solve together, first identify the barriers in the workplace that do not allow them to collaborate and support each other. What creates internal competition at your business? Work to reduce those barriers. Some of them will be management fads and entrenched “best practices” or procedures you’ve had for years. But question everything.

Leaders create the vision, aim, direction, and values of the company. These are not just words; they are actions and behaviors. To create a culture that has your aim and values at the foundation, there needs to be conversations and actions. What is your desired culture vs. the reality of the workplace? Work to close the gap. What needs to change?

Define what quality looks like, in everything you do. What’s the quality of your service? Your support of each other? Your product quality? Your customer support? Your innovation? What’s the quality of all of the administrative work? The teamwork and decision-making? Organizations survive, thrive, or fail based on the quality that is delivered. Because customers define quality. If they don’t like yours, they’ll go somewhere else.

Q. What does it take for people to support each other, work together, and succeed in delivering to the customers?

A. Ask your staff what they need to support each other and what they need to do their job with pride for the customers. Employees know how to make improvements and what they need to do it. Ask them and listen. Make a plan to implement their ideas. The quality of the culture and customer experiences can help the company exponentially grow. A sustainable business is one that creates a business full of creative, collaborative teams that can continually support each other and understand their customers’ needs and meet them. Leaders create a plan to educate and train everyone in a myriad of skills: communication, team-building, leadership development, process improvement and statistical tools. Employees work well to together to solve important problems for their customers or to create new products or services for their clients.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Better Decisions: Why Leaders Need Statistical Thinking

Q. How do leaders make decisions in these uncertain times?

A. It’s in the perspective--with knowledge and in context. There will always be some levels of uncertainty. No one has a crystal ball to know what the future brings. Making decisions can be a challenge. Fundamentally, we assume leaders do the best they can with the data they have and in context.

Not all decisions will be right and good. The decision-making process is a learning process. Scan the issue, problem, challenge, and opportunity. What are the options and possibilities to achieve your aim? Decide, plan to implement the decision, study it and the outcomes. What worked? What didn’t work? Make modifications and new decisions as needed.

Leaders and their teams make decisions continually. Some are immediate while others can take time as data are gathered and ideas are explored from as many contributors as possible. There’s no one way to make decisions; there are multiple ways depending on the urgency and impact.

What many decision-makers lack is a key leadership concept called statistical thinking. When leaders have this knowledge, the decisions may not be quite as difficult. A basic nut critical concept is that there is variation in everything. Great leaders predict and anticipate. There will always be surprises (special causes), but with foundational knowledge, they can sense-and-respond accordingly. Leaders understand and manage variation and do not react to ups and downs. They look at the data over time and look for trends and special causes. There will always be variation in life and work.

Q. What are the benefits of considering a four-day work week, and shall we try it?

A. Each organization has the opportunity to open up discussions to consider if a 4-day work week will work for them. Some organizations have had this in place for decades. For others, it doesn’t work. Leaders and their teams can explore: why they want to consider a 4-day week; the purpose in considering it; plan and methods needed to make it work for them; the options and pro’s and con’s; and how does it impact the employees, the business, and the customers. What are the benefits and value?

Many organizations are considering the 4-day work week now to better meet the flexibility needs of the employees. With employee retention being a challenge for many organizations, offering a better quality of life benefit is crucial. It’s important to ask and answer strategic questions first and involve people across the organization in generating ideas. Once a plan is created, experiment with it. What works? What doesn’t work What needs to be modified and improved? Creating a workplace where people can learn, work, and improve together is a strong foundation for progress and success.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: How Problems Really Get Solved!

Q. In the company (and in our country, too), we have the same problems that don’t get solved over and over. There’s discussion, disagreement, some attempts to take action, and the problems re-occur. What do we need to change?

A. It is common that people in any sector who repeatedly experience the same problems, are working to solve the problems at the wrong level. Many teams put a band-aid on a problem, make a quick fix, and work at a superficial level. Problems re-emerge because the group is only working on the symptoms of the problem, not the root causes (and there are generally many).

If we don’t like what is happening, we can’t throw fast, easy “solutions” at a deep issue. Questions need to be asked, investigated, and probed deeply. It’s essential to get everyone to deeply understand the multiple root causes of a problem first. Once those are defined, then people can begin to discuss how the problem evolved. What hard work needs to happen to solve it so it doesn’t re-occur, or is greatly reduced? Who needs to be involved in implementing the solution? Tough problems will not be easily fixed. It will take dedicated focus toward the solution. Try multiple methods. Some will work; some won’t.

Solving tough problems requires a committed effort to learning, working, and improving together. Measure the outcomes. Are your results getting closer to your goals or further away? Is the situation getting worse or better? If the results are worse, try other options. If it’s getting better, keep improving. Don’t stop.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Leaders Transform, Mere Change Is Insufficient!

Q. As a new executive, I’m quite surprised at the arrogance of some of my management team. While we are a service organization, many long-time team members have formed an exclusive, dysfunctional clique that has caused high turnover. What’s the best and fastest way to dissolve this?

A. As the new leader, you will need to create a new environment with a new culture. Think about the vision you have for the organization and the values and behaviors you expect your team to have so that everyone can collaborate. Start with one-to-one conversations with your management team. Listen to their thoughts, concerns, mindset. Ask each one if they are willing to learn, improve and work together and help you move the whole organization forward? Of course, watch what they say and what they do over the next few weeks and months.

Once you assess the individuals, discuss with them as a team, the need to change their thinking and leadership. Share what works and doesn’t work. Communicate and discuss with them your vision. Be clear about your expectations. Ask them how it can be achieved. People will need to transform their thinking and actions, not merely change. Some will. Some won’t. All will need clarity and coaching from you. An outside coach can share an outside perspective for you, too.

Give them some time to shift their thinking and actions, but also don’t tolerate dysfunctional, arrogant behavior. Some people have been stuck for years with their control, power, and position. It won’t be easy to transform, but be clear that the company needs a healthier style of leadership.

Q. Our company can benefit from a more diverse workforce. I believe this but don’t have any first-hand experience. Where do we begin?

A. If your organization lacks virtually any diversity, educate yourself, your managers, and your workforce (there’s a lot of research and articles in this area now.) Begin to have conversations or town hall meetings to explore your employees’ thoughts. Explore with them the pros and cons of becoming more diverse. If your workplace welcomes more diversity, then it’s exciting for them together to explore how to onboard new people and make them feel welcome.

If there’s resistance to becoming more diverse, it’s important to learn what your culture thinks. Begin to educate your workforce about the benefits. Involve people in developing the plan to create diversity; define it; describe whereto recruit for it, and create a program so the new, diverse individuals can be successful as part of a team or buddy system.

Q. There are so many challenges in our companies, communities, and society. I hope for the best, but how will we survive this chaos?

A. There have been challenges throughout the generations globally. Society continues to continually transform and has good and bad times. Leaders in any enterprise, community, or society will have a vision that they can articulate to influence people and guide them out of their crisis. The leaders who can communicate, pursue opportunities for all, and continually experiment, learn, and adapt (pivot) are the ones will move us into the future. When leaders get stuck in their thinking and are stagnant, progress is not made.

Leaders create robust strategies and put them to work. Hope is not a strategy, so while we may hope, we need more powerful action for a vibrant future. Focus on these strategies: develop leaders; quality; continual improvement; and innovation.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Assume: Your Waste & Complexity is 50-80%! Now What?

Q. In a recent speech, you shared that most organizations that decline have complexity and waste. How do we detect that waste and rid our companies of it?

A. Leaders (and the natural leaders in your business—that’s everyone) become sleuths! Most organizations ooze with complexity. The job is to find it and remove it. The biggest obstacle is that people in their workplaces have become used to “the way it is,” “the way we’ve always done it here,” “the status quo,” and “everyone’s busy.” Busyness and micromanaging is not productive. Working long hours every day is not healthy.

Be a detective. Think about the flow of work, information, and the communication needed to move from the Customer order to delivering it. If you walked the “order from the first sale through your process, how long would it take? But then how long does it really take as the order tries to wind its way through your business? Would your customers wait? Would they be on hold? Would they receive immediate tech support? These are the measures that are critical and essential. Improving these measures can improve your bottom line.

Ask your customers, your community, your vendors, your employees where there is waste and complexity. They know! And they can help you detect it and rid your organization of it—to a degree.

A deeper dive to find the root causes of the complexity requires an outside perspective. Why? You are all in the system together. You don’t know what you don’t know. You want to improve, but mere improvement will not be enough, fast enough. You’ll need to STOP doing much of what you are doing the way you’re doing it. Innovate. Innovation means taking new ideas to market—and creating new markets. Create better, bolder methods to tie what you want to deliver (goods and services) to customers.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: What Leaders Need to Know, but Most Don’t

Q. What are some of the most common mistakes that you see leaders making?

A. There are many executives leading organizations who don’t understand some fundamental leadership and management concepts. They don’t know what they don’t know, so they chase the most recent shiny coin, the latest buzzword, or management fad. What’s sustainable? Some common errors are:

1. The senior executives aren’t clear about their direction, vision, and purpose.

2. When they’re not clear, they can’t articulate it. People then don’t know what to do; they can only do their best in a floundering environment.

3. Divisions, departments, silos, and barriers are still alive and flourishing. However, the more an organization is divided, the less flow of work, information, and communication it has. Bureaucracy breeds failure. Improving the process flow from the beginning of an order all the way to the customer delivery and experience is vital. Search for and eliminate, waste, complexity, redundancy, and dysfunctional conversations. A healthy culture is creative and collaborative. How’s yours?

4. If you have quotas, incentives, arbitrary numerical goals, bonuses, ask yourself why you need to bribe your employees to do great work. With these in your organization, people will learn how to manipulate the system. Eventually it is destroyed, along with their joy in work and self-esteem.

5. The more you focus on the numbers, bottom line, forecasts, budgets, and results, the less time you have to focus on what’s essential: developing the natural leadership of your people and your culture to do great, innovative work to serve your customers. The more you try to motivate and empower your employees, the more you de-motivate them. Your role as the leader is to create the environment where people are self-motivated! That’s where the power is! Stop trying to motivate people; it’s not your job, and it doesn’t work.

These are a few ideas. Search your thinking and old assumptions for the flaws in your organization. When did you last seek new thinking, apply it, transform your company, and experience joy and exponential growth in a healthy environment? If you’re still dealing with the same issues that you were one year ago, five or ten years ago, isn’t it time for a change? It’s time to pivot your actions. Find your courage to transform.

It’s time to pivot your thinking and your actions. And you can’t do it alone. You need outside guidance from a consultant who knows how to guide you through learning and applying this innovation in leadership knowledge. Get an assessment of you and your organization—just like you would get a diagnosis for your annual physical or your car.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Ready to Manage? Do You Lead or Boss?

Q. Several managers have resigned or retired recently, and I anticipate more retirements in the

coming months. How do I prepare younger people to move into management roles?

A. In challenging times, look at the future and plan what you need to do now. Your job is to develop the natural leadership of all your staff.  Build a creative, collaborative community.  A few results that you want to experience are a healthy productive workplace and culture, happy clients, and a competitive edge. Offer education about leadership and communication (the two are intertwined in effective leadership.) 

Take time in small group meetings and periodic town halls to discuss leadership principles, concepts, values, and behaviors. As people develop their leadership, you can observe who naturally leads, who earns the respect of their peers, who has the courage to innovate. Coach and mentor people by asking questions, sharing resources (videos, books, articles.) The more you all learn together, the stronger your organization will be. Over time, teams focused on improving and solving tough problems will self-organize. Encourage teams to share and try new ideas. If they “fail,” it’s a step in the learning process to take the company to a new level.

Ask people if they want to lead. Some people are excited to lead (make sure it’s not just for a title or more money); others have little interest, or the timing is not right for them as they have other commitments. Leading is a process, one that continually must be improved. A leader is a never-ending student and communicator. They ask, “How can I be a better leader?”

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Q. What’s the difference between a leader and a boss (with any level of title?)

A. A leader shares a vision, direction, and purpose. A boss tells people what to do. A leader asks questions and trusts the people to accomplish the work together. A boss tells people how to do the work, depriving them of their pride in workmanship. A leader recognizes and appreciates people. A boss promotes him/herself and strokes their own ego. A leader trusts people to do their best and ask for help. A boss micromanages, thinking no one else can do the job better.

A leader engages the team to problem solve and asks questions so everyone can learn together. A boss has all of the answers and makes all of the decisions. A leader identifies challenges and opportunities. A boss focuses on mistakes and problems. A leader develops the team and is accountable for its performance. A boss criticizes, blames, judges, ranks and rates individuals and feels that’s the job. Do you want to work for a leader or a boss?

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Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Celebrate the Return to the Office!

Q. We’ve started to discuss bringing our employees back to the office, and we’re deep into too many disagreements. How do we decide what decision to make?

A. Executives are deep in discussion about their Return to Work policies, plans, and decisions. Some have made their decisions but based on the COVID variants have had to adjust the return dates multiple times. Some corporations intent on bringing back employees full time have faced aggressive resistance to that suggestion and are reconsidering their decision so that their workforce doesn’t quit. For some organizations, the sudden rise in gas prices and inflation add to the employees’ commitment to work remote and not commute to offices. Many families have adjusted to the new lifestyle and have committed to not wasting time in gridlock traffic.

Leaders face a balancing act (depending on the business) where they are considering both the needs and preferences of the employees and the needs of the business and its customers. There is not one decision for all organizations. There are the decisions to optimize your enterprise. There is the challenge leaders face. Ideally, the executives and "managers" and staff have some discussions to solve the problem together. Identify the Purpose; to serve all involved. How can that happen? For some, it may mean everyone goes to work full-time (less than 20% want this option.) A hybrid model where employees come to the office two to three days a week seem optimal for many (about 60%.) And the remaining 20% want to work full-time remote.

To make the best decision for your organization, look at the options, invite ideas from your employees (zoom, Town Hall meetings, survey.) Make decisions and anticipate how those will impact their lives. Communicate with plenty of notice. Stay in communication (managers and teams) as the decisions are implemented. Leaders communicate clearly and frequently through multiple channels. Then assess over the weeks how your decisions are working. What adjustments need to be made? What do you need to pivot or improve? Learn and adapt. Ask how you can help.

Create positive forums for people to re-convene and re-energize together. Understand and listen to their concerns. Coming back to the office is welcome by some and overwhelming for others. Give people space to talk, problem solve.

Create team-building events. Create Appreciation celebrations. Schedule training and education sessions so that after two years, people can learn together, attend refresher courses, elevate their leadership and communication skills, or participate in mental health and mindfulness workshops. Look for opportunities and deliver what employees need upon their return. Create deep-working labs where teams can coordinate together and accomplish a lot in the few days together.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Transform the Great Resignation—No Excuse

Q. Over the past few months, we have tried to retain our employees, but the revolving door is still too high. What do we need to change?

A. Too many executives are throwing up their hands and saying, employees are leaving because, “It’s the Great Resignation. It’s the way it is!” That’s a weak excuse in most situations. Great leaders don’t buy into it! Step back and ask, “Are we getting the results we want?” If the answer is “No,” then it is the job of the leaders to look at the whole system and assess what’s working and not working.

What’s happening in many organizations is that HR is assigned to decrease turnover and increase retention. HR focuses on improving one or two of the processes. Perhaps they improve where they recruit, or they streamline their hiring process, or they add buddies to their onboarding process. None of these are bad steps. But those changes don’t mean that the results will be different, significant, or what you need. Those changes are tinkering around the edges.

Instead, all of the processes working together (the system), must transform. All of the essential processes from recruiting to interviewing to hiring to compensating to onboarding to training to coaching and mentoring to communicating to investing in the employees to appreciating to creating a collaborative culture must be optimal. Understand how these processes are interdependent. If one or two fail, they all fail. And the Great Resignation continues in your company.

Here's an example to illustrate: Imagine that recruiting improves and many applicants are applying for your open positions. Multiple interviews are set up and applicants are interviewed by managers and teams over a two-week period. Is that efficient enough in your industry? Assume you choose a candidate and want to make an offer. The package is created and is sent out to the applicant two weeks after they’ve had their final interview. You’ve now spent four weeks looking for a candidate and not hired anyone yet. Has your preferred candidate already accepted another job offer. It’s very likely in today’s market.

Imagine you do hire your best candidate. Do you onboard them effectively, train, coach, and discuss their career path with them? Is there healthy, frequent communication flow between the manager and employee? Do you appreciate them and say thank you? There are so many opportunities to create a healthy workplace that costs nothing. The better leaders focus on creating a healthy total hiring flow, the fewer employees will flow out the door.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Smart Does Not Equal Wise Leadership

Q. My partners and I run a private equity company and have invested in more than 20 start-ups over two decades. We are all successful executives—and we have also experienced our share of failures. Our investments range from a few successes to marginal successes to mostly failures. We try to help the start-ups. We’re all smart, but we’re not making progress. How can we experience more success for our start-ups and our firm?

A. With more than 6,000 startups in Silicon Valley with a failure rate of over 90%, there are many investors who would like to experience more success. First, let’s challenge a few beliefs, and we can see why so many fail. Because you and your partners have been successful in the past does not mean you have the knowledge to guide your start-ups to be successful in the future.

Your team may be smart in an industry or a role like engineering or IT, but do you have a management philosophy as your foundation and the ability to teach it? Much depends on the start-up team’s knowledge about managing systems and developing and leading people (vision, team, culture, values, customer identity.) Most entrepreneurs have ideas, but they lack the management knowledge and business acumen to launch and scale a company. The ones who succeed are in continual learning and experimenting mode. They don’t use old thinking.

Second, when a team grows a company, they often grasp onto traditional business practices, management fads, tools, and “best practices.” Often, they learn these in college or from mentors who tell them to do what they did ten or twenty years ago. They are applying old thinking to innovation and new technologies. When 90% of companies are failing, why would you invest in a startup doing the same thing? Innovators question everything. They take bold actions to lead differently. Innovation in leadership thinking is essential.

You can best help your startup teams and your own firm by investing in yourselves and the teams. Accelerate your knowledge of strategic, systems thinking by having a consultant work with your team and the startup leaders. Invest in management team offsite meetings to focus on new learning, not spreading the thinking and practices you used 10 or 20 years ago. For resources, see my website.

Your firm and the companies you’ve invested in have a better chance of wild success if you focus on learning how to be a resource to them; guide them to learn a philosophy of management; ask better, more relevant questions on how they are working together to serve their customers; and, look at the data over time. The results/profits will be an outcome of great management. (In other words, take your Focus off of the bottom line! It’s a Pivot you must make to succeed.)

A. With more than 6,000 startups in Silicon Valley with a failure rate of over 90%, there are many investors who would like to experience more success. First, let’s challenge a few beliefs, and we can see why so many fail. Because you and your partners have been successful in the past does not mean you have the knowledge to guide your start-ups to be successful in the future.

Your team may be smart in an industry or a role like engineering or IT, but do you have a management philosophy as your foundation and the ability to teach it? Much depends on the start-up team’s knowledge about managing systems and developing and leading people (vision, team, culture, values, customer identity.) Most entrepreneurs have ideas, but they lack the management knowledge and business acumen to launch and scale a company. The ones who succeed are in continual learning and experimenting mode. They don’t use old thinking.

Second, when a team grows a company, they often grasp onto traditional business practices, management fads, tools, and “best practices.” Often, they learn these in college or from mentors who tell them to do what they did ten or twenty years ago. They are applying old thinking to innovation and new technologies. When 90% of companies are failing, why would you invest in a startup doing the same thing? Innovators question everything. They take bold actions to lead differently. Innovation in leadership thinking is essential.

You can best help your startup teams and your own firm by investing in yourselves and the teams. Accelerate your knowledge of strategic, systems thinking by having a consultant work with your team and the startup leaders. Invest in management team offsite meetings to focus on new learning, not spreading the thinking and practices you used 10 or 20 years ago. For resources, see my website.

Your firm and the companies you’ve invested in have a better chance of wild success if you focus on learning how to be a resource to them; guide them to learn a philosophy of management; ask better, more relevant questions on how they are working together to serve their customers; and, look at the data over time. The results/profits will be an outcome of great management. (In other words, take your Focus off of the bottom line! It’s a Pivot you must make to succeed.)

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!

Marcia's Leadership Q and A's: Do You Lead or Just Maintain?

Q. What can leaders do if they discover that strategic thinking isn’t their strong suit (they don’t think strategically)?

A. Not all leaders are great leaders. Some executives or managers have titles and positions, but don’t lead well. What the world and organizations need are strategic and operational leaders working together and supporting each other toward their goals and future. 

First, leaders need to be self-aware of their strengths, areas they commit to improve, and areas they have little affinity, interest or knowledge in. They can delegate or collaborate with their colleagues.

Second, when leaders understand themselves, they can contribute their best, hire the people with the knowledge the organization needs, and develop diversity of all kinds in the organization. They surround themselves with a team that can deliver the needed results together. 

Third, the great leaders have a coach to ask them questions and to help them see blind spots and what new thinking they need to develop. 

Fourth, there are options. It’s a key possibility that some non-strategic thinkers can develop more strategic thinking by having a coach, mentor, or close strategic thinking colleague. They learn to think more strategically over time. But if the company is scaling rapidly, it may be wise for a more strategic thinker to lead into the future. An operational thinker take a more meaningful position for that mindset to implement the strategies developed by the team. Much of this answer depends on various other possibilities. Bottom line: assess what is needed to envision and move toward your future together. Gather the team to collaborate toward that; no one person has all of the answers.

Marcia's Leadership Q and A's: Are you a strategic thinker?

Q. What is strategic thinking and why do we need it?

A. Strategic thinking is thinking about your direction; it’s future thinking about what’s possible. Where are the opportunities? Leaders who are strategic thinkers scan the environment continually. They see barriers to achieving their goals, but they then look at options and discover new and different ways to pivot and pursue the future.  One important point that many leaders struggle with is that they take on too many initiatives and strategies. The business needs a focus. Leaders create the priorities (3-4) and help the people focus. Create the place where they can discuss how to achieve the goals together. What resources in training, materials, or technology do they need to succeed?  If the focus doesn’t happen, leaders, their teams, and the company is spread too thin, builds in complexity, and accomplishes little. Are you getting the results you want? Check your strategic focus.

Strategic thinking is essential because a purpose and strategies help people unite and achieve their goals (fewer are better.) Strategic thinking leads to strategic planning. Without those, people and organizations flounder.  Waste and complexity build up; the business is not streamlined, efficient, or as productive as needed.  Leadership and strategic thinking go together. They are essential and lead to the next step: operational planning to define how to move forward and achieve the goals together.

Marcia's Leadership Q and A's: Are You Really Connected to Your Customers?

Q. My team feels disconnected from our customers. What are people best doing to keep in touch?

A. It’s fascinating during these times when communication is paramount that some customers feel that their vendors and partners have disappeared. Others find that they are in constant contact and well-supported. During many months of chaos, teams either step up, assess new situations, and pivot to meet customers’ needs; or they hunker down.

Organizations need to pivot and escalate to meet clients’ or a new market’s needs rapidly. Communicating frequently with various methods (calls, emails, text message, newsletters, Zoom meetings, webinars) are all possible.  Use a variety of communication methods, and assess what works best for your customers. Reach out to customers frequently, in a variety of ways. Can you also create some fun ways to engage them? Can you send them something--small, thoughtful, but meaningful? Can you create Customer town hall times where they can call in and ask questions? Be creative, and be available and responsive.

Marcia's Leadership Q and A's: Diversity in Women Leaders

Q. Recently I attended my first conference for women in business. There were hundreds of women in attendance, and I was able to meet many other business owners. We discussed several business challenges that we all face. I was surprised at how women approached other women and the diverse mindsets from both their perspectives and the speakers. Some women were humble, sincere listeners, and supportive of others; others were aggressive, arrogant, entitled, and rude! Why the gaping difference?

A. You nailed it.  We live in a diverse world, and diversity (of multiple kinds) runs the gamut! As a business owner for over 25 years, I didn’t choose to work with only one gender, but most senior executives were male 20 to 30 years ago, and I've worked with more men. There were a few women managers. Some were leaders in tough environments (predominantly male cultures in military, defense, and semiconductor industries.) Some women managers are bullies who instill fear in men and women (because they are not aware they bully, learned that behavior, are focused on making their mark in the world at any cost, or are full of internal fear and insecurity.) Others flounder as they constantly try to please others.

Leadership is tough! Great leaders continually work to improve both their self-awareness and the process of developing and leading people. Men and women need coaches over time to develop their self-awareness; communication and messaging; and deeper leadership capacity.

Leaders and those with positional power (executives or managers who may not actually be leaders) may be smart in their field (medical, engineering, accounting, etc.) That doesn't mean they understand anything about leading and developing people--even though they need to.

In a diverse world, we will meet all kinds of people. Don’t try to put people in boxes and silos. Women and men need to work together. Search for the value that every person can contribute. Guiding natural leaders to foster more respect as your foundation, will lead to better communication, collaboration, and solving problems together. Then everyone can make a difference!