Unaverage Leadership

Is Your Contingency Plan In Order?

The economy is struggling, a vital customer quits ordering, you loose a key employee, or a natural disaster strikes – is your business ready for these types of scenarios?  Great businesses answer YES and they may even be offended if someone asks.  

The reality is that most businesses have not given the time to create a contingency plan.  Why? Below is short list of reasons:

• Business is thriving

• It requires discussion on tough issues that typically are avoided

• It takes too much time

• We are rock solid and do not have to worry

• Poor management

Contingency planning is equally as important as your annual business plan or your strategic plan.  Remember that you have a group of employees, owners and their families counting on the fact that business survival means their own survival.

Without a contingency plan, recovery from a tough situation becomes difficult and may lead to the death of the business.  Gather your key people, talk about the issues that could drastically impact your business and create a plan to cope with the issues.  Contingency planning should be a part of sales, profit and stock growth planning. 

Do not wait for the storm to happen, make sure you are equipped and ready when the storm arrives!

The Cause Of Plane Crashes

What do you think is the number one cause of plane crashes?  Many people answer birds, lack of sleep, weather and other reasons.  Pilot error is the macro answer.

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell gives a mirco answer for plane crashes - the PDI (Power Distance Index) rating.  The PDI was created by a Dutch psychologist, Geert Hofestede.  PDI is one of "Hofstede's Dimensions", a paradigm used in the world of psychology. The PDI is concerned with attitudes toward hierarchy.

Gladwell points out in several plane crash examples how PDI was strongly correlated to the cause of these crashes.  Simply stated it was the fear of questioning authority that led to these fatal crashes.

What is the PDI in your company's culture?  If you think is does not matter, then think of those who died on these plane crashes.  Those passengers counted on the crew in the cockpit to safely fly them to their destination.  Similarly, employees count on the company for a pay check, benefits, education and social interaction.

How easily do your employees question authority in your organization?  Their questions and the answers to them may very well be a silver bullet waiting to kill your organization or it may be the saving grace for your organization.  Create the culture and take the time to hear the questions and answers of your employees before you experience a fatal crash.

Trust: Is It Broken In Your Company?

Trust is something that we cherish and work hard to maintain in our personal lives.  Once trust is broken, it is very hard for a relationship to go back to the way it was before.  If it does get broken, we look to ministers, close friends, marriage counselors and psychologists to help us get through this violation of trust.  Trust is evaluated on a daily basis.

In business, we violate trust like eating candy, and this was before the financial meltdown that we are living through right now.  I believe that trust in business has never been so low.

There has been a steady stream of examples where we have lost trust - the stock market, banks, the auto industry, executive compensation, spending tax payers money on parties, financial consultants and identity theft.  Adding a little icing to this broken-trust cake, is the fact that millions of American workers have been laid off with little or no warning and with total disregard to the value they have produced in the past.  Then we all sit and wonder how could this happen.

It is easy to point the finger at executives, supervisors, board of directors and many others to why trust is broken.  The problem is that we do not point the finger at ourselves.  Trust is built one relationship at a time and then roles up into organizational trust.  Please understand that I totally agree that those who have power have a higher responsibility to maintain trust, but it does not give those who do have power a free pass to violate the trust.

If the business world spent 1/100th of the effort on building trust like we do at home, we would see a dramatic change in this world.  Trust comes from faith and right now we all need to have faith in each other if we want to change the world for the better. 

You Are Your Own Bailout

Welcome to the new U.S. economy of bailouts.  Companies can plan horribly, not understand there financial situation, not understand the economy and the markets there in, and loose money like water out of a tap - no worry, they can get a bailout.

As the leaders of these companies, you can make poor decisions, lay people off, ruin peoples 401(k) accounts and share values, spend as you please - no worry you can get a bailout, and if you really screw it up you will still get a bonus.

The truly sad story is that there are far too many employees, retirees and college students that will not get a bailout - you are your own bailout.  I hate saying this, but we must take care of ourselves.  Counting on any company or any level of government appears to be a pretty risky venture.

I know that there are great companies out there, but the true test of great is when tough times hit.  What sacrifices are the owners, leaders, board of directors and managers willing to make to honor their commitments to employees?

I think this correction in our economy is a wake up call to everyone.  Make sure that you have your own bailout in order.  Here is a short list for creating your own bailout plan:

• Do not spend more than you make
• Do not try to "keep up with the Jones"
• Make sure you can handle your debt even with loosing your key career or job
• Save enough to cash flow your lifestyle for a year
• Take a hard look at how you want to live once you retire - then make sure you stick to a plan. The minimum is on your own dime, above that can come from a company or the government.
• Keep educating and training yourself - diversification is good for business and for individuals
• Keep laughing and having some fun

Bailout - Start your own today!

Plan For Business Succession

Business succession is a part of the natural business cycle.  If it is done right, a huge influx of new energy and ideas can be created.  The unfortunate facts are that far too many owners/businesses are not ready for the succession process and this leaves many employees holding their heads pondering an uncertain future.

Many owners and CEOs of businesses are wrapped up in the identity of the business to the point that if they leave, there becomes a serious personal identity crisis.  They have given their all to the business and there are strong emotions that play into their leaving the business.  This is one of the key barriers to any conversation that pertains to a business transition. It is more powerful than getting their money, who will replace them, or even the future of the business.

It is never to early to start the discussion of business succession.  The planning and preparation can take years and the more it is discussed openly the easier it is on everyone.  Do not wait for the bus to run you over - start the discussions today, put it on paper and make it legally binding so the process does not get put off.  If you can not do it yourself or internally, then find resources that can help you through the process.  Remember that you have a lot of employees counting on you to do it right so they can continue to have a bright future in the business.

The Right Time To Depart

One of the key elements of a highly evolved company culture is leadership transition.  The leadership transition may be the most important task of being a leader.

Good leaders think about their departure early in their careers.  They combine vision, business goals, and personal goals to create a plan that enables the business to continue on successfully.  The biggest hurdle in this process is making the emotional choice to pick a time.  In far too many instances the leader cannot let go emotionally and that is when trouble begins.  If a leader cannot let go emotionally, it can become a very stressful time for everyone.

Organizations have a life of their own and must grow and evolve over time.  New leadership is vital to organizations. If you are the leader in your organization, have you taken the time to plan for your departure?

I encourage you to start a dialog with your board, key staff, and family.  As with anything, the more you plan the better the results.

Flickr photo by simply

Control Freak

The opportunity is now... this is the greatest opportunity for your company to grow and evolve.  It seems obvious, people talk about it, others are putting forth the energy to make it happen. 

Yet, lurking in the dark shadows of your organization is the evil and ever present control freak. 

In many cases it is the owner, the president/ceo, or some other key person in your organization.  They may be liked, they may be hated, but either way they want to control everything.  They believe that without their input the organization will go into a downward spiral of chaos and destruction.

The key to understanding control freaks is that in many cases they suffer from the following traits - lack of self confidence, trust no one, lack balance in their lives, can only find meaning in their work, have no vision, and in some cases they can see nothing past their ego.

So what does one do when a control freak is present?  Pray - for some that may be the answer.  When dealing with control freaks, you must consider that their behavior is an attempt to protect themselves - something that we all do in crisis.  One key is to maintain your own self confidence with a quite and purposeful measure.  Your own control is a key tool when dealing with the control freak.  Hold the course until you can no longer stand the storm.

Flickr photo by Paul

Why Try Harder?

You read how engaged employees improve profits.  You are bombarded by your employees to communicate better and create a better work environment.  Even your family and close friends tell you that you should do more for your employees at work.

So being the benevolent leader and owner that you are, you take this input to heart and begin the process of organizational change.  You are full of energy and ready to make great things happen.

Then it begins, the slow drain, the unappreciative employees, the never ending battles.  It seems that every time you make a little progress people are complaining about the next thing that needs to be fixed.  Soon you could care less and start to ponder of just letting things go back to the way they were.  Why try any harder?

The answer lies within your own beliefs.  Look at this way - what are willing to do for your children, parents, or grandparents?  Why not take these same beliefs and apply them to your employees.  Can you imagine the impact that you will have on the people who you spend most of your life with?  This is your opportunity to create change in our world.  Your opportunity to provide ideas, encouragement, and resources to people who may never have the opportunities you have. 

You can set the example of how to "Pay it Forward".  To give hope that there is a better way to conduct business and build a better future for those who make your business successful.

Flickr photo by Andrizes

Not Our Responsibility

Responsibility is a heavy burden for all of us.  Those in leadership roles carry a much heavier load of responsibility that is inherent in leading organizations.

I have been in meetings with management groups that want to change their company's culture.  They discuss the idea for hours. Yet, when it comes time to really walk the talk, they point the woes of the company's culture on the employees. 

They simply point the finger and say it is not their responsibility. 

These are the types of managers/leaders that need to learn a lesson in what responsibility means.  As the manager/leader, it is your responsibility to initiate change in your organization.  The first step must be taken by the manager/leader.  Leaders must be willing to put their necks on the line first and they must be willing to weather the storm of organizational change.

When employees begin witnessing behaviors from their management/leadership group that support change, this starts the cycle of improvement.  Employees start to realize that changes are real and the organization is willing to invest time and money to support change. 

The road of responsibility starts with you - the leader.    

Flickr photo by lunawhimsy

Governance - Which Way Will You Go?

In today's complex world, the structure of your corporate governance is critical.  How your board of directors, officers, and trustees provide checks and balances is extremely important to the success of your company.  If you do not think this is true, remember the Enron and WorldCom disasters.  These examples of poor governance forced the passage of Sarbanes-Oxley.  This act was our governments reaction to help prevent the financial disaster that the employees of Enron and WorldCom experienced.

What direction is your company headed?  Have you given thought to your corporate governance structure? If all of your governance is centered in one person, you may want to change this.  The decision making process will always get better results in a group versus an individual.  You may want to consider adding non-family members or non-officers to your governance structure.  Even better, bring in outside experience from areas that can add value to your company.

Letting go of the reins can be scary, but mixing up your governance structure can restart the growth of a company and spread the burden of corporate success.

Flickr photo by Delares (Eliud Martinez)