Month: May 2018

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The Power of Consequence

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Recently one of my clients asked the following, “What do I do if someone in my sales team never hits their targets? How should I handle that?”

That’s a good question & sadly its one we answer frequently.

Former US Secretary of State, Collin Powell made a powerful observation when addressing a Global Leaders Lecture series;

“Everyone in a team knows who is and who is not performing and they are looking to you as the leader to see what you are going to do about it.”

If you do not hold people accountable and confront poor performers, you cannot create a high performance team.  There must be consequences, and the reason for this is to keep your A players, the high performers in your team, engaged. No one wants to be part of a team that accepts mediocrity and if it is allowed to continue it destroys team culture. It also destroys your credibility as a leader and erodes respect.

Some tools for ensuring there are consequences:

  1. Include teams and individuals in planning and setting their team and individual targets. Agree one on one with each team member that what they are setting out to do is achievable, and that they are committed to it.
  2. Discuss results as a team and make results visible on a weekly basis
  3. Manage people individually. Meet with each individual one on one on a weekly basis to support high performers to get better and support poor performers to improve.
  4. Train regularly as a team. Leverage the skills and learnings of the high achievers.
  5. Be consistent. A consequence of not hitting a goal should be that it is confronted each time with a courageous conversation.
  6. Use Core Values and a simple set of team rules as tools to provide a framework for setting and managing expectations.

Your job as a leader is to support, grow and mentor your team.

There must be consequences for poor performance if a team is to grow and win in business today.

Everyone in your team knows who is and who is not performing and are looking at you as the leader to see what you are going to do about it. Move fast, have the courageous conversations and care about results.

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High Standards Define Great Leaders

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‘Leaders have relentlessly high standards – many people may think these standards are unreasonably high’ – Jeff Bezos

In any organisation the leadership team set the standards. How this team operates sets the environment for the rest of the people in the wider team.

Many organisations have very talented people, great ideas, awesome tools of the trade to get the job done and a real mission but never get anywhere near their full potential. I have lead in several high performing military and commercial environments & currently professionally coach and support some fantastic CEOs, military officers and emerging executive leaders & there is no easy path/short cut to achieving success.

The standards & expectations you set as a leader will define the success of your team. As the leader you create the environment and the momentum to win in a tough environment.

The key drivers of leadership success;

  1. Growth Mindset. Experience and technical skills are critical but a growth mindset is the game changer. Leaders with a growth mindset ( as in high performance sport) believe they can learn and get better and better as a leader and as a team.
  2. Pick your team carefully. Most teams in business are long term so ensure those in key roles fit, have the desire to lift the game and are people you enjoy working and hanging out with. Surround yourself with good buggers.
  3. Diversity of thought rules. A range of different thinkers and backgrounds is a key to success. People who think differently and who are prepared to challenge your opinions and ideas can be confronting to many and a challenge to lead and align.
  4. Park the ego. If you want to achieve things the organisation has never done then you will have to be a better leader. More open to ideas, a driver of change, a facilitator of courageous conversations, better at alignment of your leaders within the team. Be prepared to adapt & iterate plans.
  5. Future focussed. A vision of the future drives inspiration, aligns decision making and provides a mandate for change ie doing what we do now with the structure and talent we have will not get us there.
  6. Expect more, far more. You have to be 20% better every year just to stay the same. Train together, have tough conversations, coach your people, get coaching yourself from professionals, seek mentors, hang out with peers, seek input from those who have done it, read, listen and apply things into real situations.
  7. Behaviours and meetings. Your ability to master the soft skills, to coach, to lead good meetings, to play with horizons and agendas are your best tools. Disrupting business as usual constantly in a good way is the role of a leader.
  8. Set and maintain high standards. This will at times be criticised and uncomfortable but those leaders who are courageous will get the respect of their teams by executing the important things that set the organisation up for future success.

Anyone can lead in good times but sadly not many can effectively lead and execute change in tough times.

How are you preparing for tough times ahead?