The question of the moment is how do you deal with your own mistakes? Are you a leader that works hard to distance yourself from your mistakes or those of your team members, or do you embrace mistakes as learning experiences and place them in full view? How you deal with mistakes says a lot about your character as a leader.
ne of the most common mistakes of leaders of all experience levels is failing to act in a timely manner on poor performers. This is certainly consistent with our firm's findings in interviews and surveys over the past two years, where the winner for number one self-described weakness was delivering constructive feedback. (Choose your label: constructive feedback=the tough performance discussion, robust dialog or candid conversation.) Apparently, many of us are wired with a naive sense of optimism and a willingness to continue throwing good time and money after bad in the never-ending hope that the poor performer will see the light, make adjustments and turn things around. And it does happen. Rarely. In fact, so infrequently, that in my opinion, the leader is better served operating with the parable of the scorpion and the frog in mind. In case you don't recall, the scorpion convinces the frog that he has changed and should the frog kindly agree to transporting the scorpion across the pond, the scorpion promises not to sting him. Needless to say, they don't make it across the pond. With their last gasps, the frog asks why and the scorpion responds with, "It's my nature."
Timely decision-making on the part of a leader is an essential ingredient for success. A leader's decision-making speed sets the pace for a team and influences the working environment in a number of positive ways. Rapid decision-making enables action and encourages team members to experiment in pursuit of innovation. It has been my experience that this style of leader tends to actually make fewer direct decisions and instead encourages and enables team members to make the call themselves. The added benefit of this style is the development of trust between all parties and the creation and strengthening of a sense of empowerment for the manager's team members.
I had a horrible consultant’s dream the other night, where I found myself shouted down in a planning session when I had the temerity to suggest that the “g” word was suspiciously absent from the prioritized corporate action-list. “Growth is an outcome!” one person shouted. “We need to fix the plumbing and growth will come our way!” shouted another. “Growth is not our issue,” hollered a third person who I had observed arriving just after the financial review showcased what can only be described as reverse growth. “Death to the growth zealot,” shouted a fourth baring his teeth.” I remember looking at the door and mentally calculating whether I would win the footrace to the exit should that be necessary. Fortunately, my alarm clock went off and I breathed easier until I remembered that I was facilitating a discussion about growth in two hours. I immediately broke out in a sweat. Fortunately for me, the group was much less “Lord of the Flies-like” than the team in my dream. I did however maintain an unobstructed view to the door at all times.
One of the wonderful benefits of modern technology is the ability of organizations to scale without investing in bricks and mortar. It is commonplace in a number of industries for people to work together for years and never set eyes on each other. It’s also common for the leaders in these virtual organizations to lose track of the fact that there are real people behind the e-mail and text messages. Over time, they reduce to faceless names behind occasional e-mails or text messages. Clearly, people choose a virtual professional lifestyle because they like the freedom and flexibility that it provides. However, when a virtual organization is faced with the need (or desire) to shift gears into a new growth mode or to change its strategy, it is essential that the leaders of this firm rethink their communication and engagement with their remote knowledge workers. For many technical leaders used to not communicating frequently with these invisible associates, this can mean a significant change in behavior.
The relationship between the Product Manager (or PM team) and the Sales force is one that is filled with great potential for all parties and also prone to frequent misuse or abuse. Frankly, it is a complicated relationship that should be governed by some shared rules of engagement and some good commonsense about when to throw the rules out in support of getting the job done.
When was the last time that you had one of those "Wow" experiences as a customer, where you walked away "surprised and delighted" about how you were treated? Travel a lot? It probably doesn't happen for you with the major air carriers. Most of my customer experiences with the airlines leave me shocked and disgusted. I'm convinced that the airlines study Customer Service Secrets of Attilla the Hun. Shop in Big Box retail stores? Similar story...perhaps without the edge of nastiness that the airlines (or cell phone or cable) companies have mastered. All of this changed for me recently, as I found myself on the receiving end of two different transactions that left me absolutely surprised and delighted. And no, they didn't take place with an airline, cell-phone, cable or big box company. They were two retail establishments that clearly didn't get the memo that you have to be nasty to your customers to succeed in this world. What is it about leaders that tolerate miserable customer service from their employees?
y posting, The Product Manager as MVP, offered my perspective on the potential for the professional in this role to have a material impact on a firm's success. I truly believe in the power of this function to shape firms, and for individuals and teams of Product Managers to serve valuable formal and informal leadership roles in organizations. I've also seen some remarkable wholesale failures in Product Management—at the team and individual levels. Truthfully, these failures often have their root causes at the top of the team or even elsewhere in the leadership or organizational design structure. Nonetheless, the symptoms become visible in Product Management. While we all love studying and reading about best practices and successes, in my experience, most of the best lessons come from studying the train-wrecks. Consider these as cautionary tales.
While I don’t know too many business leaders that look forward to a recession, I know a few strong leaders that do a remarkable job of working through them from a “glass is half-full” perspective. It’s not yet clear whether we are in or heading for a recession, but the topic is on the collective mind of people in the U.S. and around the world. If we are heading for recession, the right attitude and the right actions on your part will help your firm weather the storm and even prosper during or shortly after any period of business contraction.
A good friend that knows my passion for all things leadership, recently switched jobs and offered some comments on the nature of his dozen or so interviews. I paraphrase: "My leadership skills, experience or approach were not discussed during any of the interviews." I was shocked. "None of the top executives that I spoke with singled out and discussed leadership or people development during discussions about their business and strategy." I started to get depressed. And: "Nope, it wasn't covered with the recruiters either." I had a headache. What gives?
