When Changing Senior Leadership Becomes Personal

The Challenge:

Evaluating, or considering changes with Senior Leadership can be a considerable challenge.  Many times this executive has become more than a coworker. When leading together in times of both war and peace, a bond develops with deep emotional ties.  Sometimes, this leader had been hand-picked, mentored, and championed throughout the organization by you.

While these attributes of assessment, and change seem to be universal when reviewing any member of your Team, considering the future success of a senior executive reporting to you may bear extensive personal risks as well.   The “perception ladder”  holds more stakeholders when the reach of the senior executive extends beyond their own closely held team. 

As an example, typically the performance of an individual team member (with lesser company strategic impact) is perceived by perhaps only a few associates in addition to themselves and their immediate manager. However, when a leader’s career grows, and they extend their reach and impact upon the greater organization including its customers, vendors, employees and even its brand, there are far more contributors to the joint perception of the success (or lack thereof) of a leader.

As a result, the perceived performance or potential for success of the senior leader brings a shared responsibility to you, from amongst your peers. These peers, at the highest senior executive level of the company may tend to evaluate your personal performance on the merits of those you have hired, mentored, and led to make you more successful.

Perceptions may seem unfair or without merit because of the lack of knowledge of day-to-day challenges, barriers, and successes.  These perceptions of individual performance within the culture of an organization are real, and become more pronounced as the stakes become higher with executive level decision making.   Surrounding yourself with people who can make you more successful can be a double-edged sword when the perceived performance of those around you is not as successful as you would hope. Their perceived lack of integrity in their own performance now reflects on your ability to succeed in the eyes of others.

When evaluating, or considering changes with a senior leader, this “perception ladder” overlaid upon the personal bond that has developed between yourself and the senior leader over time, does indeed create a considerable challenge.

Moving Forward:

Succession planning teaches us more than preparing for the eventual retirement of a key employee. An effective succession planning program ensures leadership continuity and the ability to build talent from within an organization. A key aspect of this ability is a focus upon competencies.

Competency in its pure form seeks to define underlying characteristics of an employee. Items such as skills, description of role, knowledge required, etc. is expected to lead to superior performance. Competency models can therefore help to clarify differences between prescribed levels of performance.

Competencies can also be developed in a visionary form, helping to pinpoint what is required of key employees to be successful into the future. The discovered gap between current and future competencies clearly spell developmental needs for the individual, and on an aggregate basis, the entire organization.

More recently, use of competencies have also been extended to link and align the organization and its culture, to performance of each position. 

I see a competency framework within three specific groups.

• Universal (required of everyone within the organization.   Emphasis upon brand, culture, and values of the organization are stressed here)
• Leadership (measured from all employees in a supervisory, management, or leadership  responsibility of people or programs)
• Individual (knowledge, skill, ability, and experience relative to the specific position)

Channeling the perceptions of others into a formatted series of competency checks can be effective at controlling runaway perceptions based upon factors other than indicators of true success.   When evaluating a senior leader, look outside of your relationship with this coworker, friend, and key employee. Ask yourself, “how is this senior leaders ability to succeed based upon universal, leadership, and individual competencies viewed by those around them?”  

A self evaluation by the senior leader and a separate independent assessment by you will complete the circle of knowledge;

1. Do you have established competencies for this position?

• Universal?
• Leadership?
• Individual?

2. Are these competencies reflecting a future Vision for the Organization and this Position, as well as the current expectations?  Are there future gaps to indicate new development or assessment opportunities?

3. How is this Leader perceived by others within all three competency groups by;

• Self
• Team
• Executive Team
• Other Leaders
• You

4. How are these perceptions impacting on;

• Ability to grow and succeed?
• Engagement of the Team?
• Success of Team throughout the Organization?
• The Organization meeting it’s goals?
• You...

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

It’s Now Or Never

If you are old enough, you know who made this phrase famous.  I can hear Elvis singing “Tomorrow will be too late...it's now or never...”.  Elvis was so good at what he did, he only needed a first name to be memorialized forever.

As a Leader, we will also be remembered, for our Decisions, both good and poor.  But have you ever been with a Leader who just can not make a decision?  I wrote earlier of Life Is Full Of Choices...make one.  We learned “Rare Leaders™ must be Decisive”.  In my message Freedom Lies In Being Bold, I suggested “failure in Decision making is sometimes a Bold tool”. 

As Leaders, the opportunity to make Decisions is present at every moment.  We occasionally make Decisions quickly, or sometimes we have days to prepare.  Some Decisions are obvious, and some leave us with anxiety similar to buyers remorse.  We have made Decisions showering us with praise, and we have unfortunately made Decisions darkening us with blame.  We find the loneliness of Decision making is not for the meek.

In his short story “Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner”, Alan Sillitoe describes a young boy who uses running as a method of both an emotional and a physical escape from the bleak prospects and few interests of his personal life.  It was Sillitoe’s intention from the start to make Colin Smith deliberately lose the race. If he had won the race, he wouldn’t have been half the man he was. He had to lose.  He had to fail, in order to win.

Carrying the burden of making Decisions is heavy, especially when you carry the lives, and futures of so many people with you.  In this way, great Leaders carry a tremendous responsibility to others in their Decisions.  How do you find a healthy emotional and physical escape from the responsibility of your deliberate Decisions?  Because, looking back on your actions, you must have no regrets.  

You are a leader.  To be a Rare Leader™, you must make  deliberate Decisions, without regret, every day, every minute, with every breath you take.  That’s what Rare Leaders™ do.

1. Who makes Decisions without Regret?
2. What is your healthy escape from making Decisions?
3. Where do you see Decisions not being made?
4. When will you make deliberate Decisions?
5. How will your Decisions impact others?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Passion is...

Ready, set, go.  Everybody have their list in front of them?  who wants to go first?  Ok, go ahead...define passion.  Hmmm...That’s what I thought.  When you really have to put it down on paper, or describe it to a group, it’s not that easy is it?

That happened to me as I sat down to write about Passion.  When I think about defining Passion as I am driving, or getting ready to start my day, I can see it so clearly I can almost taste it.  Passion.  But when I sit down and attempt to put pen to paper, I get writers cramp or something else that gives me pause.

You are probably like me.  When you see someone who is Passionate about something, you can tell.  No one has to say “Wow, that Pastor Gable is so passionate about the word of God when he preaches”.  If you were to have dinner with Bud Selig as I did, you can tell the commisioner is very Passionate about baseball.  Even my five year old grandson Mason gets passionate about things in his young life that matter so dearly to him.  

So how do you define Passion?  The answer is that you don’t.  Thats the wonderful thing about it.  When you meet someone who has Passion, it doesn’t require definition.  It is so obvious, because it comes so easy and naturally to the person you have observed.

When a Leader Takes Ownership with Passion, it is no secret.  We can all see the obvious.

Think about the other side.  Some people approach their role as a leader with pain.  It hurts to watch them, let alone actually work for them.  They simply don’t care.  When it’s crunch time, they hope somebody else will step up and make it happen.  Goals are not met, no one is held accountable, sales suffer, good employees leave, and still, the leader without Passion takes no responsibility to assure success.

Taking Ownership of assuring success combines responsibility with passion.  Being passionate about your job as a leader almost eliminates the need to discuss responsibility.  That’s why Passion is so important when the Rare Leader Takes Ownership.

When John Gable preaches with Passion, it is because he has prepared, he believes he has been called, and he actually loves what he does.  Bud Selig has loved baseball all his life.  He invested his own money to buy a professional team.  He knows why baseball is Americas past time.  

They are passionate because this is “their Mozart”.  Thats what my dad called it.  He was a classically trained musician.  He was certain God created something very special and unique for every individual.  How else could Mozart compose his first composition, Andante in C, at age five?  Unfortunately, not everyone finds it.  But when they do find that Mozart in themselves, they Take Ownership with Passion.

What is the Mozart in you?  Is Leading organizations and people touch that Mozart in you?  If so, then Take Ownership of Leading, and do it with Passion.    

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Give Me The Ball

There’s 10 seconds left in the game.  We’re down by 2 points.  This is the championship.  This is what we have worked so hard all year long to accomplish.  It was our BHAG.  

And then, during the timeout, someone speaks up and says it.  He looks at everyone in the huddle, and says those four words.  “Give me the ball”.  It is at that moment you realize someone has taken over.  When it really matters, he announces he is taking ownership of the crucial score. He is telling us if he makes the three pointer we win.  If he misses the shot, if he is anything but perfect for 10 seconds, he is to blame.  And...he is ok with that responsibility.  

Make it we win, and perhaps he is a hero.  Miss it, and the season os over, and the spotlight of blame is on one person.

Would you interpret this scenario as an analogy to “Taking Ownership” at work?

You’ve been there.  It is a crucial moment.  The Board meeting begins in moments, and there is one more question we had not expected.  Or, just before you reach an agreement on the details of a large sale the buyer throws in one more twist.  You tell others...”give me the ball, I’ve got this one”.

I will agree with you that this is a time where someone takes ownership of finding the right answer, or meeting the terms to create that sale.  However, the Rare Leader™ will be found Taking Ownership differently.  

As a leader, Taking Ownership is not about you taking the final shot.  This is about you leading others.  The Rare Leader™ understands the importance of accepting responsibility as a Leader, not as the MVP. A Rare Leader™ of people, and of organizations reaches pinnacles of success by finding others who will step up to be the MVP.  

The Rare Leader™ will fill the organization with people who are passionate about taking responsibility for choices, feeling, thinking, and in everything they do.  The Rare Leader™ provides an example, so others on the Team will stop blaming others for their own decisions, and will teach them to be responsible for who they are.  The Rare Leader™ will initiate this type of change of culture in their organization because they believe in themselves.

Have you ever heard this prophesy? “The greatest sales people may not make the greatest leaders.”  Great sales people are really successful at selling, because they are passionate about selling.  They love being the MVP of the sale.  They love the hunt, the harvest, and they love devouring the fruit of success.  

If I am a Rare Leader™, my team hopes being the greatest performer at my "craft" was not the top qualifier for the job.  My team does not need the MVP as their Leader.  My Team needs a Rare Leader™ who is passionate about making them the MVP at what they do.  My Team needs a leader to Take Ownership of making the entire team and the entire organization successful.  

I need to Take Ownership of Leading others.

1. Have you ever wanted the ball as time was running out?
2. Have you ever been the MVP?
3. Have you hired an MVP?
4. Have you led a Team of MVP’s?
5. Are you a Rare Leader™ who is passionate about Taking Ownership in leading others?

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.

Taking Ownership

The Rare Leader™ willingly takes an initiative and acceptance of accountability, using intelligence and an enterprising attitude to figure out “how” to do it without being told.

F. John Reh writes in "Take Ownership of Your Job" http://bit.ly/bTecG5 , “Being passionate about your job is more than the old adage "do what you love". It's looking forward to going to work. It's time flying by when you're there. It's working past quitting time, not because you're swamped with work, but because you were so intent you didn't notice the time.

When you are passionate about what you do for a living you enjoy it more. You also do it better. You are more committed to the success of the operation if you believe in it passionately.”

Accepting responsibility for your own actions is simply not enough.  Taking Ownership combines responsibility with passion.  In fact, being passionate about your job as a leader almost eliminates the need to discuss responsibility.  Responsibility seems to invoke a forced action.  When you are passionate about leading, taking responsibility for your actions comes naturally.  It is...Taking Ownership in leading others.

Taking Ownership of your actions as a Leader matter! 

Do you naturally, and with passion:

• Accept responsibility as a leader?
• Accept that you are responsible for the choices you make?
• Accept that you are responsible for how you feel?
• Accept that you are responsible for what you think?
• Accept that you are responsible for what you do?
• Accept that you are responsible for the goals, direction and vision for your life?
• Accept that you cannot blame others for the decisions you have made?
• Accept that you are responsible for who you are?
• Accept that you are responsible to initiate change?

Leaders, more than anyone else, need to Take Ownership...with passion...Do you?  

This is what helps to make you a Rare Leader™

If you want to learn more about the Rare Leader™ in you, 

or if you are interested in retaining Steve as your Executive Coach, 

Contact Steve Riege via: twitter, or his website.