The company needs to grow, to change, to move. There is an opportunity, a risk, an idea. Leadership sees it clearly, but the teams won’t progress fast enough. When the challenge is set out, they find obstacles, not solutions. They focus on immediate issues but not the innovation. The pace is slow, results don’t come. The teams simply do not rise to the challenge. Where’s the urgency?
When moving up from executing tasks to managing others, leaders find themselves one step away from “the action” and risk becoming detached. Unless they get regular, honest feedback from their followers about their abilities as managers, leaders can’t expect to become stronger leaders.
Not holding teams accountable can stall strategic initiatives, produce backstabbing and even sabotage, and lead to the exit of talented and motivated executives. Here’s how you can introduce accountability in the workplace.
New businesses that tap into large and severely under-met needs are destined to grow rapidly. But if the founders starve the company of capital, their conservativism eventually will kill growth. Even more important, it will burn out the founders.
Indecisive CEOs of midsized businesses squelch the decision-making latitude of their leadership teams, who in turn go back to their “wait for the CEO to decide” mode — a sure growth killer.
IT “dashboards” can be highly seductive to CEOs, but they can’t replace good old-fashioned management techniques.
Squeamish bosses who are uncomfortable with their authority are setting themselves up for failure. Leaders must embrace their role and set the expectation that everyone on their team is a subordinate who must deliver on their responsibilities.
As soon as we become managers, it’s not just our own performance that counts. Our team’s performance counts just as much, or more. So how do we get them focused on the right things and making the most of every minute they work? This article lays out one of the biggest, most important tools every manager must use.
Despite perpetual complaints about never having enough time in the day to do crucial work, many executives waste precious hours doing jobs that an executive assistant (EA) could do better, and for a fraction of the cost. Leaders who don’t delegate such tasks visibly show everyone around them they aren’t focused on leading. That erodes morale rapidly, especially when a company is in crisis. It also slows down executive career advancements.
Too many managers and leaders spend all their time and effort using what they already know to help their company. That sounds like a good thing, and it is in the short term. The problem is that soon the company grows, and needs new ideas and solutions. The manager who has not anticipated this and has not grown their own knowledge base is less able to help their company. That’s bad for the company and bad for their career. This article gives specific, practical steps for any manager or executive to put themselves on a self-guided learning program.
Robert Sher is founding principal of CEO to CEO, a consulting firm of former chief executives that improves the leadership infrastructure of midsized companies seeking to accelerate their performance. He was chief executive of Bentley Publishing Group from 1984 to 2006 and steered the firm to become a leading player in its industry (decorative art publishing).