I recently spent a week in Manhattan, New York & enjoyed learning from Google about how they attract, recruit & induct top talent. A fantastic environment. A minimum of 8 interviews up front over 12- 16 weeks & a 3 month induction.
#thatsculture
Supporting Leaders: Isaac Construction
Leadership Lessons form 200 CEO’s: 2018/19
Annually since 2013 I have surveyed over 200 CEO’s across the USA, Australia and New Zealand to seek feedback on two key questions relating to what they have learnt and what challenges they feel they face over the coming 12 months. This creates a huge amount of information which takes some time to distil down to the key patterns that show up across all the replies. It is also a very interesting document to read because these busy business leaders have taken the time to reflect and answer the questions.
The trend over the last five years has been leading in constant change, the challenge of developing teams who have the resilience to thrive in uncertainty (created by constant change) and who can still achieve growth and a solid bottom line profit. There is much more awareness of the importance of a good culture of engagement and the need for governance, mentors and coaches to stay ahead of the crowd (competitors). I do note that the CEO’s surveyed tend to be those leading high performance companies that perform year on year despite market conditions and competitor moves so they are adaptable and already good at execution.
Question 1: What are the three biggest leadership lessons you have learnt in 2018?
- Culture & people have the biggest impact. Their skills, behaviours, diversity, ideas. The ability of our team/s to work together and to keep the clients at the centre of what we do in terms of high value products and services. No one can steal your culture.
- There is a need to move fast, make clear decisions & Execute. Know your numbers, focus, iterate the plan based on a good review process but stay the course to achieve success. Its less about the smartest ideas/plans and more about making important things happen i.e. executing.
- Trust yourself and your professional judgement. Back yourself to know the industry from your years of experience but be open to new ideas and ways. Make the big decisions, sleep on them, seek the best advice from those you trust & don’t over think it. But make good clear decisions, tell people why and then focus on making it happen.
Question 2: What are the three biggest challenges you will face as a leader in 2019?
- Finding the right people to allow the company to scale for growth. Recruiting, inducting, training and then being able to lead them well and retain the top people. It is tough to find the people with experience you need in many industries.
- Hitting growth targets in a tougher economy/market environment. There is a lot of change and uncertainty and in many markets there is more competition. Economic outlooks over the next 12 months are for a tighter market. The challenge of continuing to grow is very real.
- Taking time out to recharge. Finding time to rest, learn, study and have a good life balance when things move so quickly. There is more pressure to work longer hours and more days a week. The smartest leaders know it is a marathon and not a sprint so being balanced is needed to stay focussed, fresh and at the top of the game.
You can see the results of the 2017/18 survey here.
You can look back over a summary of the last five surveys here.
The lessons I personally learnt as a leader in 2018
I thank all those CEO’s who took the time to reflect and provide feedback.
The Power of Controlling Reactions
2018: The Leadership Lessons I Learnt
I loved 2018. It was an exciting, challenging year packed with fun, great work assignments, tough conversations, big decisions, awesome colleagues and the opportunity to work with business leaders who are at the top of their game.
Each year I ask the CEO’s I coach to reflect on what they have learnt, what they have achieved and to think ahead to the challenges they face. I also challenge myself to do the same. “Live what we teach, teach what we live” is a Core value after all.
It does take discipline to stop, take time out, reflect and to bank lessons learnt. If you don’t then you run the risk of not seeing exactly what has been achieved and will likely make the same mistakes or worse not leverage the hard earned lessons you have learnt.
A summary of key aspects of my year and some data (what gets measured gets managed).
Family: My daughter passed her NZCEA level 2 with Merit (whilst rowing, playing netball and Basketball), my son turned one & a wee baby daughter was born on the 28th of December 2018. We moved house, celebrated my parents 75th birthdays, family birthdays and sadly have had to both support ill family members and attend funerals of extended family and friends. That said I loved every minute of my family life.
Personal Fitness, health & well-being: Courtesy of my Fitbit I know I walked or ran 2555km, climbed 2234 flights of stairs, completed 182 work out periods consisting of 261.5 active hours and burnt a grand total of 1,252,315 calories! I took a month break at Christmas and 3 x one week breaks during the year to stay recharged, have time with family and to rest.
Work wise I took 56 flights, led 231 executive coaching sessions (one on one with Directors, Founders, CEO’s and C level executives in NZ, Australia & the USA), Chaired 24 Board meetings, took on a another chair role & taught on the University of Canterbury MBA course. I also led 57 Strategic planning sessions with companies and facilitated 31 customised Executive Leadership workshops. Clients were NZ wide, in Australia and in the USA & included work with Ngai Tahu, the Canterbury Rugby Football Union, tech companies, not for profit organisations and bigger companies than we have traditionally done business with.
In October I traded my shares in the national company & Greg & I purchased the Christchurch Practice & client accounts outright. In November I attended the Institute of Directors five day directors course and then subsequently completed the requirements to be a Chartered Member of the Institute. Through the year clients won a number of national and regional awards and it was a pleasure to attend the Champion Canterbury, NZ Export Awards and NZ High Tech Awards.
Our business partner John Spence (and his lovely wife Sheila) visited down under and we worked together to deliver some unique Leadership Development workshops. We continued to develop strategic partnerships with likeminded professionals as we grow our leadership and execution services offering.
In my role as Commanding Officer of 2/4 Battalion, Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment I completed 56 days service. The Battalion supported local communities, deployed people overseas on operations and commemorated ANZAC and Armistice centenary celebrations across the South Island. I qualified on the NZ Army fitness test and the rifle and pistol shooting tests which whilst standard qualifications, they require some focus and commitment to ensure I set the example as the Commanding Officer.
A busy and fulfilling year. So what did I learn?;
- Push for the break through, be patient and do the hard mahi (work). Good things take time & when you are working in the complex space of behavioural change and leadership there are no magic bullets or instant solutions. You have to be focussed, consistent and reflective. Consistently leading courageous conversations is the catalyst for the break through.
- Never underestimate the impact of caring. Play the long game – In a world of pace, shallow relationships & instant gratification it can be hard to make the important things happen. The stuff that needs a longer horizon. The rewards are great if you can play the long game, focus on the long term goal and invest in developing high trust relationships. Time & time again it pays dividends. Give back time, coach others, be genuinely interested in their success & the success of their organisations.
- Choose your mindset and control your reaction. You can’t control the action of others, markets, weather, government decision but you can control how you choose you react. Keep a cool head, never react immediately, reflect and have fun. It doesn’t matter how challenging a business situation is…..life carries on. Its not like a military operation after all!
- It gets easier to make tough decisions. Tough decisions = an easy life. In a world of populist leadership it will set you apart and allow you to maintain momentum. After all time is short and your most valuable asset. Use it wisely surrounded by good people who challenge you, who are on the same mission and who energise you. Avoid those that constantly take and drain energy whilst offering nothing in return. When making decisions it is important to have a framework and to reflect back on the outcomes.
- Keep Grounded. It is important to recharge, spend time with family and friends & to invest in your own education, development and personal interests. It keeps you connected to your purpose and on track.
2019 has started with some great opportunities & I’m looking forward to working hard to ensure it is a success.
A link to to the Lessons I learnt in 2017.
Get out of the way of your Team
Notes from a client session today: reality is we create most of our own frustrations by not allowing our people to to their jobs…. by constantly stepping in & rescuing them. Over time we are the source of our own leadership blockages. #leadership #selfawareness #team
Make Clear Decisions
First understand when a decision needs to be made and by who. The impact of making good clear decisions with the best info available at the time & then iterating them to improve upon them if needed has a profound impact on those you lead. So many leaders won’t make a call which ensure mediocrity or failure will follow.
#iterative #strategicthinking #leadership #timely #teamwork #leadershipdevelopmentcoaching
2 Min with Seequent CEO
Seequent are a New Zealand business success story. Over 7 years I have been proud to work with Greg Allnutt to support the growing, scaling software company as it pushed globally.
In 2018 Seequent won a number of awards including the Champion Canterbury Supreme Award, NZ High Tech Award and the overall NZ Business Exports Award.
Seequent CEO Shaun Maloney discusses this in a short 2 min video.
It’s That Time of year
The Art of Communication
A real leadership challenge and barrier to team growth is a lack of effective communication. Here’s 2 mins on the topic with my good friend and business partner John Spence.
