I don’t know, I wasn’t there, but from all accounts of the Shawn Chacon v. Ed Wade brawl, Shawn was a little more than insubordinate.
Don’t know what I’m writing about? Former Houston Astros’ starting pitcher, turned reliever, Shawn Chacon was none to happy about his recent demotion to the bullpen. When reportedly called to the carpet in the team’s dining room by Astros’ GM Ed Wade, Chacon allegedly grabbed Wade by the neck and threw him to the carpet.
Anyone and everyone in the sports world has expressed their opinion about Chacon. My favorite sports guys, Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg (hosts of ESPN’s Mike & Mike in the Morning), took the safest route by admonishing Chacon and supporting the Astros’ in their decision to suspend and eventually release Chacon. It is doubtful the 30-year-old right-hander will pitch again in the Majors, not necessarily because of the fight, he’s just not very good this season.
But enough about baseball, this blog is about Leadership Development.
While I agree Chacon should have been released, I don’t think the Astros went far enough with him (I actually think he should have been arrested). Nor do I think they went far enough with GM Ed Wade (I think he should have been fired).
Fired? You want the guy fired for getting the crap kicked out of him at dinner? Actually, yes, and here’s why…
Leaders do not admonish their subordinates in front of others (as Wade reportedly did in this instance). If you think hotheads exist in sports, try working in the logging, construction, or trucking industries. If a General Manager in any of those businesses treated their teammates the way Wade is alleged to have treated Chacon, they could expect similar treatment. Moreover, they could expect to have a poor record of growth, high turnover and low employee morale. Eventually, this poor performance would cost them their job.
Just because it’s Major League Baseball, it doesn’t change the dynamics of leadership. True leaders serve their team, not the other way around. When insubordinate subordinates surface, true leaders take steps to keep the situation under control. Specifically, they understand people and how to (happily) get the most out of them. When they’re faced with a hot-headed employee, true leaders work to ensure their safety, the employee’s safety and the safety of those around them.
While no one deserves to be physically attacked for verbally berating another, true leaders understand that the old “sticks and stones can break your bones, but names can never hurt you” saying doesn’t really apply much after the second grade, and certainly not in Major League Baseball.
Chacon, deservedly so, is now a footnote and a punch line. Wade, unfortunately, is still employed by a team sitting 10 ½ games behind the division-leading Chicago Cubs. Perhaps Chacon would still be helping the Astros to another mediocre finish if his General Manager wasn’t trying so hard to prove who’s in charge. It sounds to me like the Astros are suffering from the kind of leadership that leads to poor growth and low employee morale – could it be their GM?
I received the following question from a reader this week:
“My manager is a constant procrastinator, who seems to always fail at making decisions. It’s not that he makes bad decisions, he simply won’t ever make any decision. Whenever I approach him with a suggestion, he always wants me to go back and get more data. What do you suggest?” – Amy P. from Cincinnati, OH
I feel like Amy is not alone out there, so I decided to post my reply to her in this blog. Here is what I shared with Amy from Cincinnati:
Amy, wow, what a great question! If it’s any comfort to you, please understand that the situation with your manager is not unique. (I actually don’t take comfort in knowing that, because it means there is a rash of inaction stifling corporate America.)
It sounds to me like your manager could be suffering from a number of ailments, including unclear goals, low self-esteem and very little business acumen. While all of these present a great oppotunity for leadership development and management training, I can’t really teach business acumen via an email reply, nor can I deal with your manager’s “mommy” issues; I can, however, address his inability to understand your company’s goal (singular) and apply that knowledge to decision making.
What is the goal of Microsoft? How about your local dry cleaner? What is Home Depot’s goal? Finally, what is the goal of your company?
If you think the goal of Microsoft is to create innovative software solutions, you’re missing the big picture. If you believe the goal of your local dry cleaner is to get your shirts cleaned and pressed, you’re not seeing the forest for the trees.
There is only one right answer for all four companies. What is the goal? To make money for the owners of the company. (Amy, this is something that your manager probably struggles to comprehend.)
All “for profit” businesses share the same goal – to give their shareholders/owners a return on their investments. While this may seem insensitive or unfocused, I assure you, it’s not. The fact that Home Depot sells lumber is irrelevant – and it’s certainly not their goal. Selling lumber could be Home Depot’s profession, industry or expertise; but it’s certainly not their goal.
Why is it important to so narrowly focus the goal on only providing owners with a financial gain? Because placing your attention on the most important aspect of your business provides you and your team simplicity in making management decisions. By understanding that the goal of your company is to make money for the owners, your manager can begin to weigh all decisions against this standard, rather than trying to assess decisions against some key performance measurement (KPM). There’s nothing wrong with KPMs – they tell you how you’re doing in specific areas of the business that, collectively, are meant to drive dollars into the pockets of the owners. However, we’ve all witnessed examples of companies chasing a particular KPM only to see net profits decline.
Amy, have you ever seen a situation like this at your company?
Was there ever a time your company worked hard to reduce some inconvenience like customer support hold times, only to increase labor costs resulting in slimmer margins?
(Feel free to insert your own KPM in that question, I’m sure you can find plenty of instances where you chased some metric at the expense of profit.)
The reason that unilaterally driving down customer support hold times in this question drove expenses higher is simple: it was unilateral. The changes made only considered the relatively minor issue of customer support hold times, while completely forgetting about the overriding goal of making money for the owners. We could achieve a zero seconds hold time for customers if we hired a thousand operators, but that would be too costly. There is an equilibrium that exists where we can maximize profits and minimize hold times, but I assure you, we will still have customers on hold.
Using the goal of making money for the owners – whether it’s increasing share value or providing better EBITDA – to help you make decisions is so simple, it’s almost silly. Here’s how it works: take any decision, situation, problem or issue you’re faced with and ask yourself this question: Does deciding to do “Y” lead me closer to the goal of making money for the owners? If yes, then do it. If no, then don’t. If you’re unsure, then don’t do it or go back and get more data.
More data? Are you crazy? My manager is awash in data. It’s why he never makes a decision. (At least that’s what I assume you’re saying, Amy.)
If this is how you reacted to my call for more data, then your manager could be suffering from the clichéd “analysis paralysis.” Why does he do this? I’m not sure, though I do believe that most managers who require more and more data and still never make a decision suffer from a lack of understanding about the true goal of the company. The only analysis necessary is this: does it make more money for the owners versus the alternative?
The real harm with analysis paralysis is two-fold: first, decisions are put off until they become irrelevant; and second, the cost of perfect information is too great to require it for virtually every decision you’re faced with in your first twenty or so years of management.
At the end of the day, someone needs to sit down with your manager and explain that there are no perfect decisions, and that if we do “Z” we expect to make “C.” Fortunately for you, Amy, that person is you. You recognize the problem and you are the person most likely to solve it. (You cared enough to contact me, anyway.)
Don’t worry, take a breath and do the following with the next issue: do a little analysis on what the company can expect if you choose “A” or “B.” Take the findings to your manager and provide him with a recommendation. Here’s an example:
“Mr. Manager, I analyzed our problem with ‘X,’ and I think we need to either do ‘A’ or ‘B’ right away. If we do ‘A,’ we can expect a 10% decline in customer satisfaction and a long-term hit to our profitability. If we do ‘B,’ we expect to see no change in customer satisfaction and steady profitability. I think we should do ‘B,’ wouldn’t you agree?”
The tie down at the end of that statement is an old salesman’s trick that should work for you. You are, in fact, selling your manager on the decision. If your manager still tries to pause for even a second, say something like “I really think it will hurt us to wait on this, ‘B’ is clearly the right choice, don’t you agree?”
I would be surprised if he didn’t agree, though if he still can’t make a decision, I suggest you check out the following job sites:
Keeping It Simple By admin
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth One of the most effective ways to order your world is to simplify everything you encounter. The problem is that keeping it simple often becomes very difficult when our basic human nature … mike myatt, n2growth, CEO Blogs,… – http://www.n2growth.com/blog
In all my years teaching and developing new leaders, the neatest trick I ever tried involved managers who were stuck making every decision for their teams. No matter how many leadership development books they read or management training resources they studied, they were simply better decision makers than the group they supervised — that’s why they became managers and the others didn’t. They understood that their subordinates were closer to the problems, but they couldn’t persuade them to make any of the decisions.
Surprisingly, it only required printing a small sign to change the team dynamics and force decisions down the org chart:
The quickest way to truly empower your team to make decisions on their own is to put a sign on your office door that reads:
This office is always open to anyone looking for help with a problem. Before entering, please complete the following four steps:
Step 1: Clearly detail your problem in writing.
Step 2: Define two or three possible solutions.
Step 3: Choose your favorite.
Step 4: If you still need to see me, please return to Step 1.
Live this, and be prepared to celebrate a few failures, and you’ll find it to be the most effective empowerment tool ever.
The difference between high performance and failure for most companies can come down to a very simple management choice: execution versus discussion. In straightforward terms, execution is getting something done; discussion is talking about getting something done. It’s not hard to figure out which of these two creates a high performance culture in the workplace.
When we over-discuss problems, issues and opportunities, we tend to exaggerate the obstacles and we eventually talk ourselves out of making a decision. Sometimes we’ve discussed an issue to such great lengths that we can be said to be admiring the problem. It is this admiration of our issues that leads to inaction and subsequent failure. In the economic climate we’re faced with today, there is no place for inaction; no place for admiring our problems.
Interestingly, it is often the seasoned managers who tend to excel at discussing the issues, while more junior members of their team are usually foaming at the mouth to solve issues. The argument for born leaders falls flat when you discover corporate cultures that stifle innovation and cause senior “leaders” to retreat to the safe haven of avoiding decisions at all costs. (I use quotes around “leaders” because they’re not really leading as much as they are treading water to maintain a status quo.)
It’s nurture, not nature, playing the key role here. The will, desire, and drive we’re all born with is decimated by someone or something by the time we reach the executive offices. We got there because our boss, our boss’ boss, and our boss’ boss’ boss all got there the same way. They avoided risks, chose no decisions over potential bad decisions, and they got along just fine.
Welcome to a whole new world. Globalization, a weak dollar and the economic slowdown are forcing companies to layoff, restructure or fold. The inability to make decisions – good or bad – worked for us during the good times, but as every recession has taught us, companies willing to take chances are ahead going into and coming out of these downturns. It’s unfortunate that during good times we tend to reward everyone regardless of contribution. Moreover, we enjoy the comfort of “maintenance” and we tend to ignore metrics or trends that point to a need for change until it’s too late.
Perhaps, if we when we turned 50, we had the same exuberance and wide open eyes we had at 25, we would attack the problems with abandon. The cruel paradox of business is this: we finally reach a position where we’re “allowed” to make decisions right around the time we’ve had the desire to change beaten out of us.
In the first sentence of this post I indicated that it’s a choice between execution and discussion. That’s true – we all make choices everyday in our work and family life. And with each issue, problem or opportunity we discover, we choose whether or not to execute. Gaining comfort in the status quo is not the fault of the ineffective management you serve, it is your fault. You, and you alone, are the only person who can effect this change. Start today by empowering your team to make decisions. Celebrate their failures as much as you celebrate their successes, and you’ll go along way to creating true leaders for the future of your business. Then, trying throwing some crap against the wall to see what sticks. Some of it will and some of it won’t. Just make sure you can tell the difference.
Although everyone has their favorites, the editors at AskTheManager.com chose the following tomes as The Best Leadership Books of All Time:
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People; by Stephen R. Covey – It’s hard not to put Dale Carnegie at Number 1, but Covey’s 7 Habits is simply the best leadership development book of all time. No matter what management level you hold – you don’t even need to be a manager to learn from this book – by following the 7 Habits you will improve every relationship in your work and private life; you’ll gain the respect of your peers, subordinates and superiors; and you’ll actually begin to accomplish a few things. Not a bad way to run your life, is it?
How to Win Friends & Influence People; by Dale Carnegie – It’s hard to believe that this “people-skills” book was written more than 70 years ago, but its staying power proves one thing: business is about people. Interestingly, so is leadership. The most important asset of any successful business is their people, and Carnegie’s classic has helped millions worldwide improve their business relationships and grow as leaders. The lessons are almost common knowledge, but as TheManager knows, common knowledge always seems uncommon in business.
The One Minute Manager; by Ken Blanchard and Spencer Johnson – This best-selling leadership tale has stood the test of time – not to the extent of Carnegie’s great work, but TheManager doesn’t doubt that The One Minute Manager will still be as relevant in 2081 as it is today (and as it was in 1981). Full of great advice on how to manage a small team and presented in a concise story format, the lessons in One Minute can be applied across all levels of leadership.
Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done; by Larry Bossidy, Ram Charan, and Charles Burck – Once you know how to deal with and lead people, the next step is actually getting these groups to accomplish something. For business leaders today, it seems we spend more time admiring our problems than we do solving them. Execution does a great job of driving leaders into action. Interpersonal relationships, innovation and strategy are all critical leadership skill sets, but without Execution these abilities mean nothing to the success or failure of a business.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable; by Patrick M. Lencioni – A great fictional tale that gets to heart of why most teams fail to execute: teamwork. Your group may understand the terrific vision and direction you provide, but without teamwork your processes will grind to a halt. Regardless of the number of “truly dedicated” individuals you have in a group, The Five Dysfunctions demonstrates how to move that group away from personalities and into a cohesive state characterized by results.
What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful; by Marshall Goldsmith and Mark Reiter – Sometimes misclassified as just a self-help book for leaders, What Got You Here is actually a great leadership development read for both those who need to smooth out some rough edges in their approach or personality, and those who want to build a constructive company culture that takes the organization to the next level. TheManager especially recommends this book for leaders who consider themselves successful, but also believe they might be perfect. (Chances are, you’re not, and what got you here won’t get you there.)
First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently; by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman – Focused on performance, among other things, Break All The Rules should be required reading for all managers. The concepts discussed fly in the face of conventional wisdom and may leave you scratching your head at first. Throughout Break All The Rules, commonly held beliefs are exposed as ineffective or destructive – not by the authors, but by the hyper-successful managers they interviewed.
Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t; by Jim Collins – Although many of the companies Collins identifies as having made the leap from good to great back when this book was first published (2001) have since fallen on hard times (Fannie Mae comes to mind right away), it does not diminish Good to Great’s standing as one of the ten best leadership books of all time. What originally moved Collins’ eleven highlighted companies to the top is what matters, and the principles exposed in his book are still the best roadmap we have for improving entire organizations.
The Art of War; by Sun Tzu – Even today, business is war, and the teachings of Sun Tzu are still applicable more than 2,500 years after they were first written. While it would be great if we could all sit in a circle wearing just our underwear, hold hands and sing Kumbaya, the hard truth is that not every interaction is going to be fair and not everyone we deal with is going to deal fairly. The Art of War teaches you how to plan, negotiate, and build important interpersonal skills – it is an understatement to say that this work has stood the test of time. (TheManager’s note: make certain you acquire the complete version and not an abbreviated version of this work – you will not be satisfied by the 70-page paperback that is available on some websites.)
Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life; by Spencer Johnson with Kenneth Blanchard (foreword) – The only authors to have two books on our list, Messrs. Johnson and Blanchard always take a unique approach to teaching the mundane. In Who Moved My Cheese you’ll discover a very quick and entertaining read that helps people and organizations cope with change. Probably the most argued book on this list (our editors were split 50/50 on whether or not to include it), Cheese was included primarily because of the current economic climate we face. Businesses are either changing or closing, and Who Move My Cheese helps you, your leaders and your employees cope with and adapt to it.
Now’s your chance. Where did we go wrong? Which book do you think deserves to be on the list? Make your case by leaving comments. (We promise to post all comments except those that contain profanity or make fun of us, or both.)
Planner Bootlegger (Richmond BC): “…development. Responsibilities The successful candidate will be responsible for maintaining sales and stock levels to maximize and increase profitability. Working in partnership with all areas of the buying … Eluta: leadership development jobs – http://www.eluta.ca
