Leadership Lessons from the Road

February 27, 2009 By 2 Comments

One of the great things about leading workshops with talented professionals is how much I learn about the very real challenges that people face in trying to get work done inside their organizations.  

I had the great privilege of facilitating a workshop called Leader Mastery for Technical Professionals at The Data Warehouse Institute’s World Conference in Las Vegas this past week.  Kudos to the team at TDWI for producing an outstanding educational conference and for their usual flawless arrangements.

A special thanks to the group of great professionals that had the courage at a technically focused conference to attend a day-long session on a topic that would have many heading in the opposite direction. This group was engaged, hungry for knowledge to improve their performance and excited about sharing ideas, challenges and best practices with each other.  The pleasure was all mine!

After spending a day together helping this group develop a better context for what it means to lead and the principles and practices that will support their development as effective leaders, a number of themes about their challenges emerged from the discussions. These include: 

  • Gaining more context for their firm’s strategies as a means of better linking team goals and priorities to the organization’s priorities. 
  • Dealing with the very real challenges of building high performance teams across cultures, geographies and time-zones.  
  • Leading teams that increasingly include external contractors that don’t necessarily have the same level of commitment and share the same level of accountability.
  • Improving mastery of soft skills that promote performance including: coaching and feedback, talent development and decision-making. 
  • Gaining better support from HR to facilitate talent development and team strengthening versus the still all-too-common policing that seems to emanate from this functional area.
  • Breaking the vicious cycle of promoting the best technical contributors into a nightmare as they try and build bench strength.
  • Finding ways to work effectively and collaboratively in matrix environments.

My message in these sessions is always that effective leadership and effective leadership development practices serve as the foundation of organizational performance excellence.  What I hear consistently as I run these programs as well as when I engage with MBA students is an intense desire on the part of the individuals to contribute at a higher level.

I also hear significant frustration at the ridiculous cultural, managerial and procedural impediments that they face when trying to innovate and drive change.  These people want to create and belong to high performance teams and organizations.  Most confess that all too often, this is not the case. 

My bottom-line for this quick post from the road is for senior leadership to focus on breaking down barriers that inhibit performance and seek ways to set your talent free.  

Now more than ever, you and your organization require all hands to be contributing, innovating and seeking ways to create value.  It’s time to get out of your executive meetings, clear your agendas, start asking questions, listen carefully and then do something.  You are wasting remarkable opportunities to improve, and that’s not a winning approach in this market.

Filed Under: Career, Decision-Making, Leadership, Project Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Your Recruiting Practices Might Just Be Killing Your Business

January 29, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Beware Hiring ClonesIt’s long past overdue to change the way you recruit talent. The way you’ve been doing it is wrong, and it is hurting your business.

This topic is particularly relevant now, because there is a goldmine of talent on the street in this lousy economy.  Your opportunity to strengthen your firm with hungry, motivated and powerful people will never be better.

Don’t muck it up by using the same tired old tactics for filling your critical and precious few opportunities.

Specifically, I’m concerned about the propensity that we have as leaders to hire clones. This manifests itself in one of several ways:

  • Organizations hire from within their industry in a never-ending game of musical chairs.  The people stay the same, but the business cards change.
  • Managers specify MUST HAVE requirements for experience, that guarantee that the game of musical chairs continues merrily along. Visit a job board and read the ridiculously detailed experience requirements that become the filters that recruiters and HR gatekeepers use to screen candidates.
  • Many search firms and consultants lack the creativity and fortitude to challenge clients on hiring clones. They execute on a search to the “Must Have” requirements, blindly assuming the client knows best.  While they may execute the transaction effectively, these service providers have not cracked the code of how to add value to a client. (This problem however, does not start with the recruiter, it starts with the hiring managers and their false belief that only someone with a very specific set of experiences is worth considering.)
  • Talent Development is still an oxymoron in many firms. The words are uttered, the courses are scheduled, but the underpinnings of a culture committed to finding and developing the best people and the best talent are lacking.

I’ve practiced what I’m preaching here, and I’ve experienced the pitfalls, but mostly enjoyed the benefits, as my firms became market leaders.  It takes courage to hire based on your read of the raw talent…your perception of the business and the people acumen of an individual, versus hiring based on the fact that this person has done this same job in the same industry.

Why do you want to continue retreading the same worn-out industry ideas by hiring exclusively from within your market?

It takes commitment to truly developing talent when you hire for skills and gifts and potential, not for comfort.  Effective leaders understand that hiring outside the industry will elongate the ramp-up process and create more work at start-up.

However, the first time your out-of-the-industry hire looks at you and your team in a meeting and says, “Have you considered doing it this way?” you will smile knowing that the process of cross-pollination has started.  The payback from the up-front investment has potential to be tremendous.

With the exception of very specialized, knowledge or contact-intensive roles, most positions can be filled and learned by a smart person.

What’s so special about your industry or market that only people that have worked in it are capable of working in it going forward? Absolutely nothing.

I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret. There are very few differences between industries.  The problems at a high level are all the same.  The people are different, and there are unique variables, but someone who has lived across multiple markets recognizes the patterns in a hurry.  And this someone has also lived through and seen complex problems solved in different ways.  These experiences are priceless to you.

Occasionally, one of your attempts to hire a decathlete will fail.  It’s painful, and if this happens a lot, you’ve got other problems.  Some people are lousy judges of talent.

The Bottom-Line for Now

I’ll take the potential benefits that accrue over time from assembling the smartest, most capable and gifted group of individuals, regardless of background, versus settling for the mediocre to poor outcome from industry inbreeding.

Screw up some courage and expand your search parameters and get prepared to do your job as a leader in developing talent.  You might just end up with a powerful, creative and motivated team prepared to challenge conventional industry thinking while creating value for customers and thumping competitors.

Filed Under: "To Do" List, Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Turnarounds and Talent is Overrated: Two Great Posts

January 13, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Some days others have created such interesting posts, the best thing that I can do is to encourage you to head in their direction.  Today’s posts from some great pros are too good to pass up.  Point your browser towards both of these and enjoy!

  • Kris Dunn at The HR Capitalist offers his review of the new book by Geoff Colvin, Talent is Overrated in…“Talent is Overrated Primer-What the ****is Deliberate Practice?” I’ve not yet read this book that explores whether talent or “pure focused hard work” is the key to becoming a world class performer in any discipline, but after Kris’s review, it’s on my list.  Check out the review and gain some fascinating perspectives on the concept of “Deliberate Practice.”  Hint: It’s a lot more like hard work than fun.
  • Wally Bock at the Three Star Leadership blog offers his thoughts on the Turnaround at McDonald’s since Jim Cantulpo has taken over. In McDonald’s-A Turnaround Story Wally and the folks at McDonald’s serve up some useful lessons for all of us working to right our ships.  And hey, it’s nice to read about something working out in this economy.

Thanks to both Wally and Kris for the great posts today.

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

October 29th Carnival of HR (and much more)

October 29, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Readers interested in some divergent thinking and great ideas should take a look at the menu of authors and content at the latest Carnival of HR.  And don't let the HR headline trick you.  This Halloween collection of articles covers diverse topics in leadership, communication, execution, talent development and priceless career advice.  Oh, and of course, Dan McCarthy, the host, was nice enough to include my recent attempt to place a quantifiable value on leadership development activities.  Check it out, it's definitely a treat. 

Filed Under: Leadership Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Career Growth and the Product Manager

September 26, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I wear my respect on my shirt-sleeve for the many dedicated Product Management professionals that hold down what I believe is one of the most difficult and one of the most critical roles in today’s fast moving technology and B2B organizations.   (See my post: In Support of the Product Manager as MVP) The individuals in these positions have a tremendous responsibility to provide guidance to the organization, often with little formal authority to translate this guidance into action.

While admittedly biased based on my own PM and PM leadership experience, I firmly believe that these talented and well-rounded business professionals are potentially some of the most valuable assets in an organization’s talent pool.   Of course, realizing value from this talent requires a proactive approach to helping Product Managers develop some of the “softer” skills that we all know are important, but that we as leaders often overlook in our preoccupation with the day to day crises that can rule our lives.

Here’s my short-list of the skills that Product Managers cum Executives must focus on if they want to crack the ranks of senior leadership.  Given the fact that Product Managers are some of the only individuals that see the firm from the outside-in and inside-out, it is well worth it for Product Managers and their managers to steer development, and yes, training efforts towards these areas.

  • Leadership: This is perhaps the stickiest or squishiest of all skill sets and yet developing context for the true role of a leader, understanding what it takes to build credibility and engender trust as a leader are critical lessons on the road to success.  Instead of generic leadership training, focus on an approach that emphasizes the development of key leadership skills and the application of these skills in a series of diverse leadership situations.  Ideally, any leadership development program for Product Managers will emphasize developing the skills and gaining experience for leading as an informal leader, leading horizontally and managing upwards.  (OK, again, I’m biased, but a manager armed with my book, Practical Lessons in Leadership and committed to creating a robust developmental program for their Product Managers is miles ahead of the manager sending their PM to some of the generic leadership training in the marketplace.)
  • Strategic thinking.  Like leaders, strategists aren’t born and in most cases, they are made.  Few positions in a firm have the potential to contribute more to strategic thinking and strategy process creation and sustainability, than that of the Product Manager. I was fortunate enough to enjoy early career mentors that challenged me to constantly think outside of my product, outside of my company and to look at the big picture, tune in to my various audiences and to develop and test strategic hypotheses while growing the business.  That is a very different way of thinking versus “what are the top 10 features that I can jam into my next release?”  Too many Product Managers don’t learn to look beyond their narrow scope (product, market segment) and all too many don’t grasp the importance of their role as a strategist in the overall firm’s plans.  Challenge yourself or your Product Managers to take an active role in educating the firm on the market and customer situation and proposing ideas to leverage the situation for growth.
  • Communications Skills and Mastering the Art of Diplomacy.  Great Product Managers learn to speak the language of executives and they recognize that every encounter regardless of who they are meeting with, is an opportunity to build trust by understanding needs, creating shared perspectives and creating reasons for people and teams to move forward. The recent HBO miniseries, John Adams, based on David McCullough’s biography of the same name, shows the mercurial and aggressive Adams nearly destroying any chance to earn France’s support for the revolution, as he demands action and nearly destroys the hard-won credibility that Franklin had earned in several years of creating an understanding and developing shared-reasons to fight the British. The days of command and control leadership in the corporate world are generally over.  Developing a communication style that creates interest and fosters respect is essential for success.  Diplomatic skills to manage upwards, to manage across and to manage the generations and the various cultures via distributed teams are skills that will carry the Product Manager way beyond their mid-level role.

The Bottom-Line for Now:

Rather than coming across as picking on Product Managers for being deficient in leadership, strategic and communication/diplomatic skills, it is my intent to encourage them to proactively develop these skills.  It is remarkably easy to get caught up in the pursuit of day to day business and forget that everyday is a chance to advance your career.  If you are fortunate enough to have a great mentor, that is good.  If not, it’s incumbent upon you to take the initiative to create the experiences necessary for you to develop and fine tune these critical skills.  Your future depends upon it.

Filed Under: Product Management Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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