Right about now, you've made the discovery that if you intend to push your company beyond its current plateau, you will have to change the way you relate to your work. You have doubtle ly concluded this next level mandates you to let go of things like hiring, product design, perha even day-to-day sales - many things you handled in the past - and focus yourself on your role as CEO.
There are three stages to making the tra ition from chief cook and bottle washer (CCandBW) to CEO (source of the management and direction of the busine ).
They are:
- Understanding your highest value contribution to your company and focusing on that role.
- Recognizing your position as a leader and owning the job.
- Delegating everything else, and holding others accountable.
My last article, Time Well ent, deals with tra ition one. This article will examine tra ition two - recognizing your position as leader and owning the job. Next month I will cover the third tra ition, Giving it all away.
As CEO of your company - you are no longer the "head of everything". It is up to you to provide leadership. That's the job. No ifs, ands, or buts. The sooner you recognize it the better. Being the leader entails certain re o ibilities which ca ot, under any circumstances, be delegated.
By the way, much has been written about the qualities of leadership. But leadership is not about qualities, such as "strength of character" or "integrity". While those things are useful, if you aren't already imbued with "a wi ing personality", it can take half a lifetime to develop one.
The core re o ibilities of corporate leadership - which you ca ot delegate - include:
- Owning the vision and the strategy to realize the visio
- Communicating the vision to i iders and outsider
- Enabling others to act to realize the visio
- Developing new leaders.
Vision is our concept of the future of our busine . Owing to a quirk of human cognitive physiology, most of us experience our mental representatio as images. When we think, or imagine, or conceive, what the future will be like, we tend to see it. Hence "vision".
Vision is simply how we perceive and experience the future of our company right now, in the present. We "see" the company being a particular way - as front-ru ers in our industry, as serving a particular cla of customers, or perha as being located internationally, or generating a certain level of revenues, or even as causing breakthroughs for humanity. Another way to describe the vision is to call it "The Future".
A powerfully held and shared vision energizes and i ires people. By giving them a se e of their future - it provides a "place to go" or a purpose. It draws people forward like iron filings to a magnet. Vision is the vital catalyst that multiplies the efforts people put into their work, and inte ifies/magnifies/ augments/ expands/enlarges the effect or those efforts.
It doe 't matter where the vision came from. It could be have been a brai torm between three friends over a cup of coffee. It could have been formed in a strategy seminar, or at a board meeting. It could have washed over you in the shower one morning or during the commute home one evening.
Regardle of the source - the CEO/Leader is the keeper of the vision, the "owner" of the vision. No one else in your company can play this role. Embrace the vision and make it yours. Have this vision be your animating principal.
Your vision will most likely include elements of product vision, company vision, and industry vision.
Communicating the Vision
Next, the CEO/Leader's job is to communicate the vision and help people take it on as their own. By succe fully tra forming your vision into a shared vision, you empower your employees - they see themselves i ide of it, to see the future described as their future.
The vision is now a source of magic - when people see themselves living an i iring future, they take action co istent with tra forming that vision of the future into a reality. Right now, in the present. People become self-i iring when they own the vision.
Depending on the size of your organization, one-on-ones, round table discu io , town-hall meetings, conference calls, satellite meetings, board meetings, staff meetings, company di ers or outings, off-sites, video and audio tapes, monographs, white papers and newsletters may all be a ropriate ways to communicate your vision.
Regardle of the particular venue, every time you get people talking about "the vision" they are making it their own.
The CEO also communicates the vision to all outside stakeholders - the Board, su liers, customers or clients, investors, the media, even the government. When the outside world actively participates in your company's future, many things which were once difficult become easy.
Enable others to act to bring the vision into reality
It is not enough to simply share the vision. The CEO/ leader provides o ortunities for people to act to realize the vision. How do you do that?
First off, have people end 100% of their time on work that is aligned with the company vision. Ask the question, "Is this or that project moving us toward our designated future?" If not, kill it - immediately.
Encourage C.R.I.B.:
- Creativity - Rarely will same-old thinking foster a bright new future. Get your organization looking outside the box. What new a roaches can you take? What new technology can you a ly?
- Risk taking - Don't punish failure. Silicon Valley venture capitalists actually reward failure. A failed busine venture is regarded as a badge of courage and a sign of experience and maturity.
- Initiative - Give people permi ion to do things and launch projects on their own. If you discover someone working on something promising, make sure they get the right resources and funding - and make a big deal out of it.
- Breaking with tradition. Just because you did it 'that way' in the past...
Eliminate the kind of thinking which says: "We don't have the time, or the money, or the resources, to do..." Cultivate a climate where people say "How can we..." i tead of "Can we..." or "We can't, because..." This simple change fosters C.R.I.B.
Finally, ask the question, "What is in the way of committed action?"
Develop new leaders.
In some branches of the military, a senior officer is measured by the quality of the junior officers for whom he is re o ible. In an entrepreneurial company, you will be ultimately succe ful to the degree you cultivate the leaders who follow you.
Remember, leadership is not a set of attributes, but a set of actio to take. Great leadership ability can develop through practice. If your company embraces C.R.I.B., people will naturally develop the skills of leading.
Look at your development teams as a training camp for leaders. Rotate people through key positio . Change the rules from time to time. Keep projects a little short of resources to encourage flexibility and ingenuity. Ask managers to make decisio on the ot.
Replace yourself in as many critical areas as po ible. Push decision making further down your organization, and finally, let go!
Leadership is the ruby which tra forms the scattered light of your organization into a focused, coherent laser beam, aimed - with tremendous power - in the direction of your declared future.
By forging a vision, promoting it relentle ly, enabling your people to act to bring that vision into reality, and developing you new leaders to replace you, you create great leverage.
As Archimedes reportedly said, "Give me a lever long enough and I will move the earth." Leadership, a lied to your busine , is the ultimate leverage.
--- Copyright 2004 Quantum Growth Coaching. All Rights Reserved ecial Requirements for Reprint: we ask only that you include Paul's name and resource box, and keep all hyperlinks as live links.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Paul Lemberg's clients call him "the unreasonable busine coach" because he i ists they pursue goals and take actio far outside their comfort zone to make more money than they previously thought po ible. To get busine coaching, ti , tools and strategies like these, visit http://www.paullemberg.com/execoach.html.
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