Sheri Stolp - The Stolp Group

In our prior newsletter, I referenced six of our Twelve Essential Leadership Skills.  In this edition, I will highlight the final six, rounding out the key attributes of today’s successful leader.  In total, these Twelve Skills embody the core essence of facilitative leadership.  Here at The Leadership Academy, we have designed a training framework built upon these Twelve Essential Leadership Skills.  Our framework includes various customized, on-site workshops, involving specific organizational role-plays and case studies.

TWELVE ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS

7. MANAGING CONFLICT: Workplace conflict is inevitable. Failure to manage conflict, however, can undermine collaboration and teamwork and ultimately sabotage workplace        culture.  Effective leaders understand how to have the crucial conversations needed to        manage and diffuse conflict, use conflict to promote creative solutions to workplace      problems, and deal with potentially difficult workplace situations.
8. ACTING WITH FOCUS: Business leaders consistently list “time” as one of their most important assets. From crisis management, to implementing the organization’s strategic vision, to simply managing day-to-day responsibilities of leading an organization, the demands and stress imposed upon today’s leaders can be overwhelming. Leaders must be able to act with focus in order to function effectively, achieve established objectives, and deal with the complex challenges that can arise on a daily basis. What does it take to have the focus of a truly effective leader? The ability to establish clear priorities, the power to concentrate on the tasks necessary to progress through increasing and sometimes conflicting demands, and the proficiency to accomplish those priorities. Leaders who understand priorities but lack concentration, know what to do but cannot seem to get it done. Those who have concentration but fail to prioritize, act without direction and lack progress. However, a leader who can harness both priorities and concentration has the potential to achieve great things.
9. STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT: Organizational effectiveness results from the strategic alignment of four fundamental components: (1) a workplace culture that values success and achievement; (2) a clear vision and direction consistent with the organization’s purpose and values; (3) the ability to influence and mobilize people to pursue that vision; and (4) the fundamental focus and action plan to achieve that vision. Effective leaders, therefore, must be able to develop and maintain the strategic alignment necessary to deliver their organization’s strategic objectives. This approach aligns leadership behavior to the organization’s strategic vision, to the marketplace, and to the culture, required to implement that strategy.
10. CHANGE MANAGEMENT: To succeed in today’s highly volatile and increasingly complex work environment, organizations must successfully manage change with minimal disruption to the corporate culture. Companies who are successful in making change work to their advantage, possess leaders who see change as an opportunity for the business. “Change management” therefore is the ability of organizational leaders to initiate and respond to change in ways that create advantage, minimize risk, and sustain performance.
11. LEARNING AGILITY: Learning agility is an individual’s ability to continually acquire new skills, learn from experience, confront new challenges and market dynamics, and perform effectively under rapidly changing conditions. As corporate leaders exhibit those qualities, enterprise agility follows. To be effective, leaders at every level must continue to grow and develop by continually learning new skills and being open to new ideas and alternative ways of thinking. Throughout their careers, successful leaders show the willingness and ability to learn and take away meaning from their experiences. These leaders recognize the nuances in different situations and then adopt innovative approaches to confront new workplace challenges.
12. BUSINESS ACUMEN: Leaders are essentially the stewards of an organization’s core assets – its people, finances, reputation, brand, shareholder value, and market position to name just a few. To serve as effective stewards of these core assets, leaders must possess “business acumen” – e., the ability to review and understand financial statements and balance sheets, budgeting, asset allocation, corporate and legal compliance requirements, people management, etc.

 Of course, a leader does not have to master and consistently exhibit all Twelve of the essential skills to be effective in his or her role. In fact, that leader probably does not exist. Nevertheless, as leadership is situational, truly effective leaders must understand these Twelve Essential Skills and have the ability to develop and flexibility to employ them as circumstances may require.

In our prior newsletter, I touched upon the overall business case for employing Effective Leaders.  I have been fortunate to work closely with dozens of organizations ranging from small family-owned businesses to Fortune 500 companies who have achieved great success in establishing truly extraordinary places to work.  These organizations not only generate top and bottom line, they offer employees incredible job satisfaction and growth, generating very low staff turnover. It is through these experiences that I can now safely share that the majority attribute their success directly back to the quality of their leaders.  Their leadership team has simply mastered a “particular” skill set, which I refer to as the Twelve Essential Leadership Skills.

TWELVE ESSENTIAL LEADERSHIP SKILLS

Here at The Leadership Academy, we have designed a dynamic Leadership Model built upon the Twelve Essential Leadership Skills.  This Model includes various customized, on-site workshops, involving specific organizational role-plays and case studies.   I will be covering “six” of our Essential Leadership Skills here now and the following “six” in The Leadership Challenge Part III.

1. COMMUNICATION: Because leadership is situational, it would be difficult to prioritize the Essential Skills, as the relevance of particular skills varies with each circumstance. However, because virtually every situation requires the ability to communicate clearly and effectively, communication skills certainly ranks toward the top. The ability to effectively communicate — to listen to what others have to say and then to express ideas in a clear, concise effective manner, is a crucial skill for leaders. It includes verbal communication and understanding non-verbal cues; effective written and visual communication; as well as the abilities to engage in one-on-one conversations or deliver a presentation to a room full of people. The essence of effective communication is making connections – understanding what others have to say and helping others understand what you have to say.
2. FACILITATING AND IMPLEMENTING VISION: Without vision – a picture or image of the organization’s future, destiny, and purpose – there is little or no sense of purpose in leadership. Effective leaders must understand the organization’s larger objectives and “reasons for being.” With that purpose in mind, truly effective leaders explore the possibilities of what could be, facilitate a vision consistent with the organizations values and objectives, and then outline a plan to implement that vision — a blueprint for working together to create the desired future.
3. EXERTING INFLUENCE: Leadership is not a title to claim or power to wield. Rather, leadership is the ability to attract followers – to influence others to follow their direction because they understand the leader’s vision and want to follow the leader’s direction. Effective leaders understand that the essence and source of leadership is the talent and ability to attract followers. Simply put, to lead means that others follow, and attracting followers requires the ability to influence others.
4. TEAM BUILDING: Effective leaders understand how to cultivate relationships in order to build and manage effective teams. Employee teams and strong teamwork add value to virtually every area of business. In recent years, work teams have consistently proven invaluable in promoting employee engagement, achieving process improvements, and increasing quality and productivity. Accordingly, effective leadership requires the ability to initiate and manage workplace teams, evaluate the success of those teams, and successfully influence team members to work in a coordinated and disciplined manner.
5. LEADING WITH ETHICS & VALUES: A primary source of a leader’s credibility and “influence pool” comes from the trust and admiration of their “followers.” In that regard, effective leaders exhibit the character deserving of followers – always treating followers with respect, honesty, and integrity. In other words, as leaders seek to facilitate and implement a strong organizational vision – the leader must understand the necessity to “do the right thing, at the right time, and in the right way.”
6. STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING: Leaders make decisions. In fact, making decisions may be the most important function of any executive. It is also one of the toughest and certainly the most risky. Bad decisions can damage the organization, undermine careers, and potentially harm employees, customers, and the community. Effective leaders develop and utilize an approach to decision-making that puts enough options on the table to permit a thorough evaluation to ensure they can make a sound and reasoned choice – considering the full implications of the decision in the context of organizational vision as well as social and economic realities. A leader who is more skilled at making strategic decisions is much more likely to make rational and successful decisions for the benefit of the organization.

In our next Newsletter, we will examine the final Six Essential Leadership Skills.  Stay tuned!

Have you noticed a recent surge in articles, books and other publications discussing the topic of leadership?  Each author claims to have the insider scoop on what specifically constitutes a great leader in today’s business.  So which personal attributes truly identify solid leaders?  Is it the individual’s communication style?  Their overall drive or tenacity?  Their personality amongst colleagues?  Their intellectual capacity?  Their years in management?

Looking back over the decades, leadership gurus such as Drucker, Maxwell, Blanchard, and Goleman, classify leadership in terms of the individual’s approach to situations encountered.  Bill George, retired CEO of Medtronic, stresses the importance of interacting authentically, and wrote a bestselling book entitled Authentic Leadership.  This year, the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis, provided his top 12 leadership secrets in a book entitled Leading With Humility.  Finally, just this week, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal featured an article highlighting 3M’s Global Talent Leader and their organizational approach to developing talent and expanding leadership internationally.

Within my own consulting business, I’ve recognized many leaders across all sectors, large or small, public or private, manufacturing or service, struggle with very similar issues. These skill deficits surround areas such as time management, conflict resolution, strategic planning, holding others accountable, etc.  The oddity of all this is that these particular issues trouble even the most seasoned, well-intentioned leader, with decades of supervisory experience. When providing coaching, it became evident these leaders privately contained their struggle and, through the years, withheld any energy to proactively address the problem.  In most cases, the leader actually believed these issues went unnoticed.

One of the number one issues keeping CEOs awake at night is the lack of effective leadership in their business.  Whether it’s their #2 in their firm or an entry level supervisor, business owners suggest that 80% of their business issues can be directly attributed to poor leadership decisions.  In a recent Deloitte study (2013), 86% of executives identify leadership development as their most important and urgent concern.

My business partner and I have been discussing these concerns and believe we have a viable solution to these challenges.  Our solution resides in the form of a specialized, leadership development program, the Leadership Academy.  Our academy, comprised of 24 customized training workshops, is built upon what we’ve coined “The 12 Essential Leadership Skills:  Communication, Vision, Influence, Team Building, Ethics & Values, Strategic Decision Making, Conflict Resolution, Focus, Strategic Alignment, Change Management, Learning Agility and Business Acumen.”  It is through these company-specific workshops where individuals gain access to these core skills and ultimately change individual behaviors.

In our next newsletter, I will further describe these 12 Essential Leadership Skills, along with our customized training solution in addressing today’s overall leadership challenge.

For the small business owner, conquering challenges like creating new business opportunities, improving the bottom line or finding a new office can seem like small potatoes compared to hiring and managing employees. And as the business grows, entrepreneurs can experience major challenges in terms of finding great people, performance issues and the thing we all dread most, firing someone. Add to that a complex set of state and federal employment regulations and the whole thing can seem pretty overwhelming. But here’s the good news. In the world of HR, which I’ve lived and breathed for close to two decades now, you can pretty much pinpoint certain headcounts at which issues usually arise. If you keep these milestones in mind, you could avoid some problems down the road.

Let’s start at the beginning. When a company is hiring their first few employees, the relationship between owner and worker is typically pretty informal. Few small businesses use application forms, have formal orientation processes, or even well-defined benefit packages. And you know what? That’s okay! From a human resources perspective, as long as you are adhering to tax and withholding rules for payroll, and proper workers’ compensation insurance has been secured, you’ll probably remain in good standing. And this type of trust model, where personal dialogue and informal meetings are used to hire onboard workers, often provides the foundation to jumpstart the business without a lot of overhead or paperwork.

I believe the stage at which your workforce reaches between five and ten employees is one of the most critical to the success of the business long term. At this point, the credibility of the firm begins to rely not just on the owner, but often on the people joining the growing team. Key tasks like sales and customer service are often handed to employees at this stage. And it becomes crucial to successfully lure key talent away from the “big guys,” without having to pay big salaries. When you reach five employees, really pay attention to your benefits in terms of partial ownership, future incentives against business performance, and other attractive options you may be able to offer down the road. I recommend that any promises you make, you make on paper. Also, play up the things that you can provide as an alternative work environment to big business. Flexible time, health club memberships, even a casual dress code are all things as a small business you can use to hire top talent. Put together a short document outlining all the fantastic things your business has to offer at this point, and be even more careful who you hire at this stage of the game. Reference check like crazy and always trust your gut if something doesn’t seem quite right. A bad hire at this stage could be devastating to your business. I’ve seen it happen far too often, when you’re often at your busiest.

An HR person like me works from the vantage point of an objective observer, or even a referee brought in to initiate new plays and help mediate issues. From that perspective, the biggest characteristic I see for companies when they hit double digits in terms of number of employees is high growth. And once again recruiting is key.

In fact, between 15 and 49 employees is when processes for HR become part of your business’s critical success factors. For recruiting, your focus should now shift toward hiring a management level of good coaches, trainers, and motivators. Your options for candidates have likely increased and more people know about your business, and want to join it. To maintain the quality of your team, it is imperative at this point to create guidelines and processes for recruiting and hiring candidates. Adhering to those policies can help safeguard you from potential liability, as well as help identify the key competencies that make your business tick. Up until now, you were probably active in every single hire. You’ve got to put practices in place to guarantee the type of new employees on whom you’ve always been able to put your personal stamp of approval. Until now.

The other key element in this 15-49 employee band is the onboarding or orientation approach for newcomers. The larger the staff, the more challenging it is to acclimate new workers quickly into the mainstream. And with the growth you’re experiencing, there is no time for much handholding. Identifying and documenting workflow practices can be a tremendous help in this area. A simple manual of operations or “modernized” employee handbook can be a lifesaver, and even help identify things like cultural norms. (We all know how hard it can be to determine those when you’re new to a job.) Finally, an informal policy toward training is a must at this level. Now that your key players are being held accountable for their subordinates, not to mention the overall organizational goals, a way to identify and schedule training is crucial.

I think 50 employees is a major milestone for any company. Not only are you subject to various major federal/state regulations, such as the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), it is the time when companies traditionally begin defining and articulating their unique culture. It is the true initializing of an internal identity. Competencies are typically defined and career ladders formalize. This not only creates a picture of the organization, it is tremendously helpful for giving employees a sense of purpose and belonging.

At this stage, your employees will want to grow along with the company. Employee development, and having someone responsible for that development whether it’s a manager, HR representative or consultant, is a major factor in a company’s success. Keep a strong focus on finding new and interesting ways to strengthen your existing team and keep them up to date on industry trends. Retention is even more important at this stage of the game. You’ve spent hours and hours nurturing and building this team. Now you’ve got to keep them challenged or turnover will hurt you. Encourage employee committees, and conduct regular surveys and “climate” assessments to keep tabs on the overall morale and positivity within your group. And lastly, scrutinize your employee benefit package to make sure it fits and attracts top talent.

Obviously, the things I’ve described here represent only a handful of people strategies during the various growth stages of a business. Your company will likely face a myriad of challenges as it evolves and changes. These suggestions are really meant as a springboard to help you manage, encourage and inspire the people that are accompanying you on the incredible journey of building your business.

Do you dread conducting employee performance appraisals? Is it one of the last things you wish to do during your already pressing week? Are you concerned with conveying negative news to sub-par employees? If so, you’re not alone. Writing and conducting annual performance reviews is ranked as one of the least favorable activities of management. However, there are various tricks in which to make this somewhat unpleasant task “tolerable” and even meaningful, for those who work for you.

Being a member of the HR community, I’ve witnessed various styles and methods of the infamous appraisal system. Some organizations take reviews very seriously and have decided to conduct not only annual discussions, but quarterly! When I’ve asked various employees and supervisors in these organizations what they think about the quarterly format, most believe the frequency is “overkill” and share how little it impacts performance level or output. The other end of the spectrum include companies who choose to “fit in reviews” only during years where it’s feasible. This approach is harmful in that in the absence of ongoing feedback, employees have difficulty grasping targets and have a vague notion of how the employer feels about their performance. The most common appraisal method I witness is the annual review, where a set form is adopted, varying in length. I’ve recently been working with a company that utilizes a 15 page review, covering every possible metric, goal, competency and development tool known to man. The review meeting lasts up to two hours, even longer in certain cases, creating confusion and exhaustion on the part of the employee and manager. I’ve been brought in to help re-design their system, where we are evaluating and limiting targets, enhancing both efficiency and effectiveness. Lastly, another common variation is a shorter, one page annual review form, which is simply a template for template’s sake.

Now personally, I’m all for accountability. My preferred method for appraisals is to begin the year by holding a joint discussion with each of your direct reports, outlining the goals and metrics for their individual position. The goals should be challenging enough to stretch performance, yet be realistic so that the employee feels some control over their work. The goals should be itemized in writing, including specifics and timeframes. Any appraisal form housing the right metrics and goals of both the organization and the position, illustrates a clear target for overall expectations. This transparency can only help employees focus and truly understand what their leader or business owner desires. I’m also a fan of a mid-year check-in, a more “informal” approach, yet meaningful dialogue between manager and subordinate. This check-in is also the time to adjust a goal or metric that might have been altered due to business conditions or other unforeseeable situations that popped up during the first six months. One trick to utilize throughout the year is to keep a performance log on every employee, documenting positive and negative performance, along with dates. Then during annual review time, you can pull out these logs and construct the written review content from the notes.

The majority of organizations I work with include some form of self-appraisal or self-assessment in their appraisal process. These forms are a chance for the employee to toot their horn regarding accomplishments and even ask for support if struggling with a particular task. Although I’m an advocate for this piece in the process, self-appraisals can cause concerns for both the employee and manager. For example, if the employee is

struggling, he/she will be reluctant to admit poor performance and will either omit these errors and/or embellish performance. Then, when the review is conducted, the leader is faced with figuring out the best way to highlight the disparity in the ratings. Secondly, with the amount of work placed on today’s leader or if the leader has multiple direct reports, I’ve witnessed some supervisors simply cutting and pasting the self-assessment into the final review form, illustrating to the employee that he/she wrote their own review. Self assessments can be powerful tools, yet need to be a complimentary piece of data, woven into the leader’s final product.

As an HR consultant, one unfortunate situation I run across is where the supervisor has failed to address a negative situation with an employee and has “saved it” for the annual review discussion. The employee is essentially blindsided, in a formal sit-down meeting (typically including merit compensation). The supervisor is generating dialogue regarding a performance/behavior issue, an incident that took place months before and the employee may have been completely unaware of the issue. The employee typically reacts by being defensive, gets emotional and can even shut-down, prohibiting any further coaching from taking place. If a review does include negative feedback not previously discussed, it should only be due to the incident occurring just prior to the review discussion.

One common question I receive regarding reviews is whether or not to tie review ratings with the annual merit increase. I believe whichever approach you take, linking or not, should maximize your overall business objectives and culture. I believe in rewarding performance in both monetary and non-monetary ways, as employees do need both types of recognition. If pressed, I would advise constructing a review form including ratings, a 1-5 scale is the norm.   If an individual is rated a 5 in his/her annual performance, the merit increase should be substantial, and provided shortly after the review. If another employee is rated a 3, an average merit should be awarded. Some companies who prefer to separate the review from the merit increase, due to economic conditions, e.g. wage freezes or if many individuals are already above their midpoint for their salary band. Companies in these situations acquire the problems via acquisitions or previously poor compensation decisions e.g. inflated job offers.

In the end, the performance appraisal can be a powerful conversational tool between manager and employee, highlighting the employee’s individual performance during a set period, relative to overall goals. The most effective appraisal discussions include a two-way dialogue and partnership approach moving into the new year.   As the business owner or leader, it is an opportunity to coach and inspire the greatest asset in the organization, your people.

Do you dread conducting employee performance appraisals?  Is it one of the last things you wish to do during your already pressing week?  Are you concerned with conveying negative news to sub-par employees?  If so, you’re not alone.  Writing and conducting annual performance reviews is ranked as one of the least favorable activities of  management.  However, there are various tricks in which to make this somewhat unpleasant task “tolerable” and even meaningful, for those who work for you.

Being a member of the HR community, I’ve witnessed various styles and methods of the infamous appraisal system.  Some organizations take reviews very seriously and have decided to conduct not only annual discussions, but quarterly!  When I’ve asked various employees and supervisors in these organizations what they think about the quarterly format, most believe the frequency is “overkill” and share how little it impacts performance level or output.  The other end of the spectrum include companies who choose to “fit in reviews” only during years where it’s feasible.  This approach is harmful in that in the absence of ongoing feedback, employees have difficulty grasping targets and have a vague notion of how the employer feels about their performance.  The most common appraisal method I witness is the annual review, where a set form is adopted, varying in length.  I’ve recently been working with a company that utilizes a 15 page review, covering every possible metric, goal, competency and development tool known to man.  The review meeting lasts up to two hours, even longer in certain cases, creating confusion and exhaustion on the part of the employee and manager.  I’ve been brought in to help re-design their system, where we are evaluating and limiting targets, enhancing both efficiency and effectiveness.  Lastly, another common variation is a shorter, one page annual review form, which is simply a template for template’s sake.

Now personally, I’m all for accountability.  My preferred method for appraisals is to begin the year by holding a joint discussion with each of your direct reports, outlining the goals and metrics for their individual position.  The goals should be challenging enough to stretch performance, yet be realistic so that the employee feels some control over their work.  The goals should be itemized in writing, including specifics and timeframes.  Any appraisal form housing the right metrics and goals of both the organization and the position, illustrates a clear target for overall expectations.  This transparency can only help employees focus and truly understand what their leader or business owner desires.  I’m also a fan of a mid-year check-in, a more “informal” approach, yet meaningful dialogue between manager and subordinate.  This check-in is also the time to adjust a goal or metric that might have been altered due to business conditions or other unforeseeable situations that popped up during the first six months.  One trick to utilize throughout the year is to keep a performance log on every employee, documenting positive and negative performance, along with dates.  Then during annual review time, you can pull out these logs and construct the written review content from the notes.

The majority of organizations I work with include some form of self-appraisal or self-assessment in their appraisal process.  These forms are a chance for the employee to toot their horn regarding accomplishments and even ask for support if struggling with a particular task.  Although I’m an advocate for this piece in the process, self-appraisals can cause concerns for both the employee and manager.  For example, if the employee is

struggling, he/she will be reluctant to admit poor performance and will either omit these errors and/or embellish performance.  Then, when the review is conducted, the leader is faced with figuring out the best way to highlight the disparity in the ratings.  Secondly, with the amount of work placed on today’s leader or if the leader has multiple direct reports, I’ve witnessed some supervisors simply cutting and pasting the self-assessment into the final review form, illustrating to the employee that he/she wrote their own review.  Self assessments can be powerful tools, yet need to be a complimentary piece of data, woven into the leader’s final product.

As an HR consultant, one unfortunate situation I run across is where the supervisor has failed to address a negative situation with an employee and has “saved it” for the annual review discussion.  The employee is essentially blindsided, in a formal sit-down meeting (typically including merit compensation).  The supervisor is generating dialogue regarding a performance/behavior issue, an incident that took place months before and the employee may have been completely unaware of the issue.  The employee typically reacts by being defensive, gets emotional and can even shut-down, prohibiting any further coaching from taking place.  If a review does include negative feedback not previously discussed, it should only be due to the incident occurring just prior to the review discussion.

One common question I receive regarding reviews is whether or not to tie review ratings with the annual merit increase.  I believe whichever approach you take, linking or not, should maximize your overall business objectives and culture.  I believe in rewarding performance in both monetary and non-monetary ways, as employees do need both types of recognition.  If pressed, I would advise constructing a review form including ratings, a 1-5 scale is the norm.   If an individual is rated a 5 in his/her annual performance, the  merit increase should be substantial, and provided shortly after the review.  If another employee is rated a 3, an average merit should be awarded.  Some companies who prefer to separate the review from the merit increase, due to economic conditions, e.g. wage freezes or if many individuals are already above their midpoint for their salary band.  Companies in these situations acquire the problems via acquisitions or previously poor compensation decisions e.g. inflated job offers.

In the end, the performance appraisal can be a powerful conversational tool between manager and employee, highlighting the employee’s individual performance during a set period, relative to overall goals.  The most effective appraisal discussions include a two-way dialogue and partnership approach moving into the new year.   As the business owner or leader, it is an opportunity to coach and inspire the greatest asset in the organization, your people.