Leadership | It's Worth Noting

Leadership

Is your hiring and training process a competitive advantage?

June 16, 2010

I’m leading my company, The Karis Group / Kare360, on a quest in 2010 to become a national leader among small business at how we find, interview and train new hires (“FIT” process). The goal is to become the best in our peer group and to establish The Karis Group as an known, appealing and magnetic employment brand. Why do this? Well, if we don’t have the best people, we won’t have the best company. If we don’t have the best company, we won’t be able to deliver the best products and services. If we don’t make our team better with each hire, at best we idle, at worst we decline compared to our competitors. People are our business and among the things we have to excel at, to be better at than anyone else, is how we find, interview and train new hires. Consider today how strategic you are throughout…

Leadership

When’s the last time you tried to fail?

July 30, 2010

In one of my college English classes, I was given an assignment along with everyone else to write a book review. I was getting good grades on these routine assignments, but was sick of writing them. I actually wanted to become a better writer, not just earn a good grade. I decided to risk failure and petitioned my teacher to let me write a fictional story based on a character in the book. If I neglected to put in the effort, I’d accept a failing grade, but I needed him to agree to not fail me simply because I didn’t stick to the assignment or couldn’t write good fiction. After some persuasion, the teacher finally agreed. I worked really hard on that paper because I was a complete novice at writing fiction. I ended up doing ok, but not as well as I would have done writing the book review.…

Leadership

The danger of defining your purpose too narrowly

November 8, 2010

Let’s say you manufacture keyboards. When someone asks what your company does, you respond, “We design and manufacture keyboards.” What if you changed your response to say, “We help people interact with computers.” Suddenly, you have a lot more opportunities in front of you. You can let the creative juices flow and design the next generation of devices that allow people to tell a computer what to do. Be careful of defining your purpose too narrowly. Out of a desire to focus, you might miss what you really do and stifle innovation.

Leadership

Lead your team with stories, not rules

December 22, 2010

Stories inspire. Rules constrict. Stories are memorable. Rules are very forgettable. You’ve seen them, or maybe you’re part of or are leading one now – an organization that is managed by rules. Do this and don’t do that, binary instructions that assume people operate like computers. Better organizations and leaders use stories to guide their people. Sure, a few rules may be needed here or there, but stories about a wowed customer, a loyal employee or someone or something you want to emulate are far more effective. Leading by telling more stories plants memorable reference points that provide inspiration and guidance for how to behave, in everyday situations and in ones never contemplated by a set of rules. So stop looking for bigger binders for that ever expanding book of rules, policies or procedures that everyone wants to burn. Start looking for and telling stories. Agree?

Leadership

Plan on where to miss

August 17, 2010

I was at a golf tournament a few weeks ago and watched some of the world’s best players work their way around the course. One of the things you notice, and hear great golfer’s talk about, is that while they take dead aim, they also plan on where to miss. Why would the most accomplished golfers in the world plan on where to miss? It’s because the game is hard. They can’t execute perfectly every time. If something goes slightly wrong, they want to make sure their ball lands in a safe area so they’ll have a chance with their next shot. The same lesson applies to life, whether personal or business. You cannot execute perfectly every time. Most of the decisions you make will be impacted by circumstances and events that were unforeseeable or beyond your control. Plan for the miss and give yourself some margin for things to…

Leadership

When bad news arrives, effective leaders focus on solutions

June 1, 2010

When you hear bad news from your team, whether a mistake or accident, how do you respond? Far too often, we get upset and go down the path of lecturing, reprimanding, blaming, etc. about events we cannot change. We ineffectually dwell on the past instead of dealing with the future. It may be therapeutic, but it’s not effective or inspiring leadership. The best leaders don’t waste a lot of time getting angry or frustrated over bad news. They focus on what’s next instead of what was. They evaluate the options, identify a solution and act. The best time to reflect on what happened, to learn, is almost always later, much later. What’s needed in the moment is their poise, creativity and innovation. So what’s your style? More importantly, what’s your reputation? Ask your family and coworkers. If you routinely negatively respond to bad news and others fear bringing it to…

Leadership

Do you know how? A thought from Bill Clinton.

December 9, 2010

Yesterday evening I gathered with about thirty thousand of my closest friends at Salesforce’s Dreamforce conference in San Francisco to hear a speech by Bill Clinton. He touched on one point that stood out to me: the importance of how. Lot’s of people, governments and companies know what they want to accomplish. Few know how to get it done, day in, day out, in a way that accomplishes their goal. Knowing how to execute a grand or complex idea that has lots of moving parts or requires an extended period of time to put in place is the key to success today. Reflect on what you aspire to accomplish and ask yourself if you know how to get it done. If you do not, you need to either find people to help you, learn quickly or drop the idea to focus on what you know how to do. The real…

Leadership

Does your team know your organization’s story?

May 13, 2010

A couple days ago, I spent some time with a group of new hires to share the story of how The Karis Group, which I have the pleasure of serving as CEO of, got started more than fourteen years ago. Like most businesses, the story in the early days was one of sacrifice and gumption, but we survived and now enjoy the blessings of a thriving and growing business. Unfortunately, too few companies and organizations take the time to consistently share their story with their team. The team is only exposed to a recent history, not an instructive past. They miss out on an opportunity to gain a broader perspective, celebrate a success and more fully appreciate the sacrifice and perseverance of those who have been with you the longest. If there are people on your team who haven’t heard the story, hit the pause button and gather them up. …

Leadership

Ten things you can do today to express appreciation to your team

December 1, 2010

1. Go around and say thank you for the work that is routine and rarely praised 2. Deliver a handwritten note of appreciation for who someone is, not what they do 3. Grab someone’s favorite coffee or sonic drink on your way back from lunch 4. Email out a first come, first serve offer to help someone with any task of their choosing for 30 minutes 5. Take a 20 minute walk with your most stressed and overworked team member 6. Find a recent email or doc sent to a client by a team member that was especially good, mark up what you liked and email it to the rest of team as an example of great work 7. Share with someone how you’ve seen them grow in a particular area over six months or more 8. Circulate a recent story of a client significantly impacted by a team member…

Leadership

Can you leave work for five days?

October 27, 2009

If you or your colleagues believe you can’t leave work for five days without important responsibilities being neglected, you have a problem. Unfortunately, many employees work hard to make sure they’re irreplaceable and their companies encourage and support this behavior. The problem is that this suggests both are investing time and energy into developing responsibility silos rather than developing scalable and replicable systems and processes. Make yourself irreplaceable, not by ensuring you’re the only one who can do something, but by repeatedly developing systems and processes that can be executed by others. A healthy company leverages its employees to amplify the effect of its systems and processes. An unhealthy company uses employees as a proxy for systems and processes, so when one of the employees is gone, so is the system and process they represent. This makes it difficult for employees to take time away from work, planned or unplanned, and makes it…