Lucrative Leadership Conversations

Have you ever been “in the zone,” where projects felt almost effortless? If you’ve ever experienced this, you were in a state of Flow. This term was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his seminal work Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Flow triggers can be a powerful ally for anyone in leadership.

 

“You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears. You forget yourself. You feel part of something larger.” —Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

 

McKinsey Consulting conducted a 10-year research study where they found that top executives reported being five times more productive when in a state of Flow. If we could increase the time we spend in Flow by 15-20% (by increasing Flow triggers), overall productivity in the workplace would almost double, researchers found.

But what is Flow?

“Flow is an optimal state of consciousness, a peak state where we feel our best and perform our best.” -Steven Kotler

 

One of the leading voices today in the area of achieving Flow is Steven Kotler, author of “The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance” and “17 Flow Triggers.”

 

From his bio: STEVEN KOTLER is a New York Times bestselling author, and award-winning journalist. His articles have appeared in over 70 publications, including: New York Times Magazine, Wired, Discover, Popular Science, Outside, GQ, and National Geographic. Kotler is also the co-founder and director of research for the Flow Genome Project, an organization dedicated to decoding ultimate human performance.

 

In this episode of the Lucrative Leadership Podcast, Gene and I explore several of these Flow Triggers and how the Six Bold Steps of the Leaders First process can outline a structure to achieve Flow.

Flow Triggers and the Six Bold Steps   

While Flow has been proven to be a powerful ally in the world of business leadership, very few leaders understand how to achieve it. The 6 Bold Steps create a structure where Flow triggers are allowed to flourish. Below is a summary of the 6 Bold Steps with the corresponding Flow triggers.

Bold Step #1: Step Up To Responsibility

In Step 1, leaders agree to step up their game and own their personal responsibilities.  This requires the hard, often painful, work of examining their beliefs and behaviors.  To lead together, leaders have to agree to protect the organization’s best interest, even at the expense of their department.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #1:

 

• The Challenge/Skills Ratio (Psychological Trigger)

 

Flow is achieved when the task or responsibility is slightly beyond your comfort zone or skills. When leaders step up to the responsibility at hand, they must find the balance between tasks which are too difficult (causing anxiety) and those which are too easy (causing boredom).

 

 

• A Rich Environment (Environmental Trigger)

 

Leaders can more easily achieve a Flow state by structuring the environment in which they work. By creating environments that are unpredictable and complex, it can actually work at increasing Flow. How? If you do not know what to expect in your environment, you pay more attention to what is happening next. If we are forced to calculate a lot of information coming toward us quickly, it forces us to be more attuned to the moment.

 

 

• Risk (Social Trigger)

 

Risk means the potential to fail. Creativity increases with a greater risk of failure. When leaders step up to their specific responsibilities, the potential for failure increases, which in turn increases the amount of creativity and innovation.

Bold Step #2: Defining Critical Outcomes

In step 2, they craft a common language, sustainable statements, which we call critical outcomes. Outcomes express the core competencies aligned with the organization’s strategic vision and the customer’s expectations.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #2:

 

• Clear Goals (Psychological Trigger)

 

Clear goals allow our minds to stay focused on the present task. The goal of having clear goals is to “know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. (Kotler)”

 

 

• Shared, Clear Goals (Social Trigger)

 

Flow happens only when teams are 100% clear on their shared goals. Shared goals have a dual purpose: Open for creativity, yet focused enough to achieve a solution.

 

 

• Familiarity (Social Trigger)

 

Teams can more easily achieve Flow when they use common terms and language. Each member of the team must work from the same knowledge base to avoid confusion. Confusion kills Flow. When team members are on the same page, it leads to momentum. Momentum leads to Flow. Step #2, defining outcomes, is critical in getting everyone headed in the same direction.

 

Bold Step #3: Granting and Accepting Accountability

In Step 3, leaders negotiate who, on the leadership team, will have the primary accountability for designing and executing each outcome.  

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #3:

 

• High Consequences (Environmental Trigger)

 

Risk and survival are positive factors when it comes to achieving Flow. When danger is involved, our sense are heightened. This response works in favor of finding a Flow experience. By granting and accepting accountability (Bold Step 3), an element of danger is created.

 

 

• Sense of Control (Social Trigger)

 

When accountability is granted, the leader is also granting a sense of control to that team member. When a team member accepts accountability, they are stepping into the control they have over a critical outcome. Accountability and a sense of control encourages both autonomy and competence.

 

Bold Step #4: Integrate Roles

In step 4, -  Working together, the leaders begin an intuitive process to collaborate and design a structure they are able to support and explain to others. Leaders decide their roles for each outcome and agree how and when communications occur that define future and past actions and decisions. They create the first drafts of the reporting structure.

 

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #4:

 

• Intensely Focused (Psychological Trigger)

 

Flow is the direct result of intense concentration over a long period of time. Focused attention, as opposed to multi-tasking, leads to high levels of Flow. Flow requires one singular area of deep focus. Once a leader’s role has been determined, they are able to give the full attention to this area.

 

 

• Equal Participation (Social Trigger)

 

Flow is best achieved when team members share equal roles in the project. Team members need to have a similar level of skills. You don’t want to mix the “professionals” with the “amateurs.” Step 4, integrating roles, helps in getting the right people at the table and achieving Flow within the team.

Bold Step #5: Designing The Strategic Reporting Structure

In step 5, engaging the entire organization in ongoing discussions improves the design. Conversations serve to clarify and reinforce the meaning of the outcomes that make the organization sustainable.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #5:

 

• Serious Concentration (Social Trigger)

 

An effective reporting structure and feedback loops (Step 5) helps to focus team members on what is important and maintaining concentration on the project. This type of concentration can be seen in the sporting world, where it is necessary for the demands of a fast paced sport. Like a time out during a stressful game, constant feedback loops can help keep the team concentrated at the task at hand.

 

 

• Good Communication (Social Trigger)

 

According to Kotler, “nothing blocks flow more than ignoring or negating a group member.” When leaders spend quality time on designing an effective reporting structure, good communication can be achieved among team members, leading to Flow.

Bold Step #6: Tracking Performance

In Step 6, tracking performance is used to discover the best practices for the delivery of each outcome to the customer.

Flow Triggers achieved in Step #6:

 

• Immediate Feedback (Psychological Trigger)

 

Immediate feedback is related to defining clear goals, according to Kotler. In the Leaders First process, creating a successful performance tracking system (step 6) ties all the way back to defining the organization’s critical outcomes (step 2). By providing opportunities for immediate feedback, it focuses attention on goals and outcomes, leading to Flow.

 

Conclusion:

Flow should be the goal of any leader who wants to achieve extraordinary results in business and in life. Flow is the roadmap to discovering greater clarity, focus, accountability, and commitment in your organization. Kotler’s 17 triggers are an excellent way to achieve Flow in the workplace. However, leaders may find the implementation process difficult. The 6 Bold Steps of the Leaders First process allows leaders to create a structured framework in order to implement these Flow triggers into a team environment.

 

To learn more about the 6 Bold Steps, the Leaders First process, or about the BOLD Leader Flow Project, contact Susan Hasty to schedule your appointment.

 

Links:

http://www.slideshare.net/StevenKotler/17-flow-triggers

http://www.flowgenomeproject.com/

https://www.ted.com/talks/mihaly_csikszentmihalyi_on_flow

 

Welcome back to the Lucrative Leadership Conversation podcast. In season 1 of the podcast, we have covered the “6 Bold Steps” Gene Morton has developed that allow organizations to become both profitable and sustainable.

 

The 6 Bold Steps provide a strategic pathway for leadership teams to achieve clarity, focus, accountability, and commitment within their organizations.

 

Here’s a recap of each step along with links to the related episodes:

• In step 1, leaders agree to their own personal responsibilities to ensure decisions protect the organization’s best interest.  

• In step 2, they craft a common language, which we call “outcomes, that expresses the core competencies synergistic with the strategic vision.  
• In step 3, they negotiate who, on the leadership team, will have the primary accountability for designing and executing each outcome.  
• In step 4, Working together, the leaders begin an intuitive process to collaborate and design a structure they are able to support and explain to others. Leaders decide their roles for each outcome and agree how and when communications occur that define future and past actions and decisions.  They create the first drafts of the reporting structure.
• In step 5, leaders finish designing a strategic reporting structure. Engaging the entire organization in ongoing discussions improves the design. Conversations serve to clarify and reinforce the meaning of the outcomes that make the organization sustainable.

 

Most  performance management systems focuses conversations on past results.  

Failure is a part of the learning and improving process.  

 

You cannot hold people accountable for what they cannot control. Don’t waste energy holding them accountable. It’s too late. Correct the situation and work on determining those accountabilities up front and know who is in charge of what.

 

The goal of tracking performance is to discover the best practices for the delivery of each outcome to the customer. So, creating a successful performance tracking system (step 6) ties all the way back to defining the organization’s critical outcomes (step 2).

The Importance of Clarifying Critical Outcomes

Clarity within an organization comes from creating and defining the critical outcomes and corresponding accountabilities. A well-formed outcome statement is the compass that guides team members’ decisions and priorities. It points us in the way we want to go.

 

Outcomes keeps the organization alive. By spending quality time of developing the critical outcomes of the organization and defining each outcome in a clear, organized manner will greatly determine the future health of an organization.

 

When an outcome is not clearly defined and the accountabilities have not been properly determined, the leads to underperformance in the company. This lack of performance manifests as variances, gaps, overlap, and confusion.

Variances, Gaps, Overlap, and Confusion

A variance is anything within an organization that is not meeting expectations and dragging down performance. For example, a variance could be unplanned project expenses. You can track this easily through cost overrun on the financial statement. When you are supposed to spend x amount of dollars, but have actually spent y. This easily shows a variance right on the P&L statement.

 

A variance occurs when operations go outside of the SOP and arise as a direct result of the leadership team. Variances can be minimized by tracking daily activities and creating actionable goals.

 

A gap is when you have a defined outcome and ask, “Who is accountable?” and no one answers. Is this outcome actually being accomplished? How? Who is accountable? A gap in communication and accountability leads to outcomes following through the cracks and getting lost in the process, leading to customer dissatisfaction.

 

An overlap is the opposite of a gap. Overlap occurs when more than one person claims accountability for the same outcome. Overlap leads to duplicated effort toward an outcomes, as well as conflict among team members.

 

Confusion is when a member believes they have an accountability in a certain outcome area, but cannot clearly communicate their role. Other people step in when they are not sure what to do or who is accountable for this outcome, leading to greater confusion and overlap.

 

All of these examples of variance diminish the clarity of the roles, the process, and eventually the profitability.

Goals of A Successful Performance Tracking System

Performance data acts as a shield protecting the process from leaders who can affect the system. Leaders can get “trigger happy” and change a system that is performing well if they are looking at the wrong metrics. Performance data proves a process is, or is not, working effectively.

 

A successful performance tracking system is more concerned with future planning versus the evaluation of past events. A good guide would be for 90% to focus on planning and future improvement and only 10% on reviewing past performance. Performance planning works much better than performance evaluation. Be more concerned with the future than the past.

 

The role of the leader is to keep people on track toward the completion and delivery of an outcome to the customer. The ongoing sustainability of the organization is not a solo effort, but depends on the contribution of the entire team.

 

In order to keep focus on critical outcomes and avoid drift, leaders should have constant lucrative leadership conversations with team members. These conversations happen in real time and act as constant course corrections. It also allows team members, not just the leaders, to help keep each other on track.

 

Determining performance indicators will guide teams toward the fulfillment of the outcome as well as the leaders accountability to that outcome. Ideally, a leader will have no more than one outcome to which they are accountable. While one is ideal, having two or three outcomes is usually more realistic in most organizations. A leader will not be effective or have enough resources to focus on more than just a few outcomes.

A successful tracking system:

• Shifts leaders’ focus toward the payoff zone and away from the comfort zone.
• • Payoff zone: How well we deliver outcomes
  • Comfort zone: Following routines to avoid stepping outside of our box
• Moves from evaluating past performance toward planning performance improvement.
• Shifts from isolated individual achievements to the overall performance of an outcome delivery team’s contribution to the survival and prosperity of the company

Why Do Performance Management Programs for Leaders Fall Short?

• Leaders are evaluated on performance indicators they have not agreed to take on.
• Leaders may agree on what outcomes are critical but are not clear about their accountability for them.
• Leaders may have clear accountability but have not coordinated roles with other leaders that will be needed to fulfill their accountability.
• Leaders have coordinated and integrated roles but have no new strategic reporting and decision-making structure.
• Leaders are fulfilling accountabilities but their performance is not planned or tracked.

How Do Leaders Roll Out A New Performance Tracking System?

• Present the new leadership and strategic reporting structures to all involved.
• Spell out who is on each outcome delivery team and make improvements as needed.
• Leaders explain their goals and expectations for their outcome delivery team.
• Team  members draft performance plans around the tasks, activities, and responsibilities of each team member—have team members write first draft  of their plan.
• Meet in person to clarify, improve, and agree to a performance plan.
• Have a follow-up conversation every month or so to re-clarify expectations and make adjustments in performance.

 

 

 

 

 

About the Hosts:

 

SUSAN HASTY

Susan Hasty is the CEO of 360 Profit Masters and the host of the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast. Susan considers herself a “maverick leader” on a mission to inspire and equip leaders to ignite their leadership genius.

Susan co-founded 7 business ventures over the last 35 years. Her passion is helping business owners and CEOs improve their own clarity, focus and commitment to build more sustainable organizations empowered to make economic liberty a reality.

She is certified in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), a Strategic HR Business Partner by the Human Capital Institute and a member of the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Network of International Leadership coaches.

  Ready to your business more profitable? Schedule a free call with Susan Hasty

  GENE MORTON

Gene Morton is a Colorado-based leadership and organization development consultant, as well as a two time award winning author of the award winning book, Leaders First: Six Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction.Over the past 40 years, he’s consulted on more than 100 projects in 85 organizations with leader groups engaged in complex mergers, reorganizations, leadership turnarounds, and system redesigns.  

He developed the Leaders First Alignment Process to provide leadership teams the model they need to gain clarity regarding their unique leadership roles as the organization evolves.  Mastering the intricacies of organized and collaborative leadership and the power of meaning are his passions.

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In the last episode of the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast (you can listen here), Gene and I discussed how leaders undergo a creative process to design a new reporting structure design.  

 

This is Step 5 in Gene’s Leaders First Process, an innovative organizational design that creates the foundation for a learning organization, adding clarity and focus based on negotiated accountability.  

 

Here’s a recap of each step:

 

In step 1, leaders agree to their own personal responsibilities to ensure decisions protect the organization's best interest.  

 

In step 2, they craft a common language, which we call “outcomes, that expresses the core competencies synergistic with the strategic vision.  

 

In step 3, they negotiate who, on the leadership team, will have the primary accountability for designing and executing each outcome.  

 

In step 4, Working together, the leaders begin an intuitive process to collaborate and design a structure they are able to support and explain to others. Leaders decide their roles for each outcome and agree how and when communications occur that define future and past actions and decisions.  They create the first drafts of the reporting structure.  

 

In today’s episode, we dive into to the steps of rolling out the structure. Engaging the entire organization in ongoing discussions improves the design. Conversations serve to clarify and reinforce the meaning of the outcomes that make the organization sustainable.        

  What Are Some Goals of A Successful Roll Out?  

• Leaders learn how best to communicate the reporting structure to others, i.e. to identify the pitfalls in their communication process.
• To gain workforce members’ agreements to implement the structure in their daily work routines.

 

• To educate the workforce about how to perform within the new leadership and the reporting structures.
• To build support and interest in accomplishing the strategic vision.
• To reality test what the workforce sees that the leaders have missed, i.e. to discover the unseen vulnerabilities of the reporting structure.

Why The Reporting Structure is Foundational to Enhancing Employee Engagement

 

• It creates a link to their role in the  the strategic vision of the organization.

• It clarifies the different outcome delivery teams.
• They better understand the company's priorities, improving their ability to make better decisions
• They understand who has the authority to proceed.

• How to lodge a complaint, resolve a dispute, and mediate a conflict.
• How they are expected to work with others outside their function or expertise.

• How to communicate/collaborate with other parts of the organization.

How Do Leaders Roll Out Their New Reporting Structure?

• Reporting structure design is a reflection of the new leadership structure. Both are presented to inform and train the workforce.
• Leaders take the initiative to reality test the structure in presentations to the workforce.
• As the workforce is informed they interact with the leaders over what they like, what they don’t understand, and what they think needs a redesign.
• The leaders revise the reporting structure where needed and work through a process to present and publish it.

What Are The Leader Perspectives In A Rollout?

Leaders group takes the initiative to reality test the structure in presentations to the workforce.

 

Leaders explain:

• What stimulated the need for new leadership and reporting structures.
• How they intend to work within the leadership structure.
• The goals of the structure.
• How it relates to the strategic vision and its priorities.
• What is new and why it is included.
• Why it is important for the workforce to learn the reporting structure.
• How workforce members can put it to productive use.

 

Leaders learn:

• How to explain the structure to the workforce.
• What they might have missed in their strategic design.
• New ways to think about it themselves.
• If the intent of the reporting structure can be understood.

  What Are Some Important Employee Perspectives During A Rollout

• The workforce meets with leaders to understand its implication for them.
• The meeting follows an inclusive and informative agenda.
• They ask questions for clarification.
• Their observations and suggestions are written for all to verify the employee's comments are accurately recorded.
• They give input and suggestions to the leaders that:
• Improves and enhances the role of reporting structure, improving clarity and focus.
• Allows conversations about the improvements they would like to see, and how best to communicate the structure to others including customers and suppliers.

  When Is A Reporting Structure A Success?

When those who work in it…

• Able to accept more growth:
• Outcome delivery is easier and the volume of outcomes delivered increases with the same number of people and the same amount of resources.
• They have less stress performing their work and better working relationships across function, product, or project lines.
• Silos are a thing of the past.
• When customer and supplier measures of satisfaction are constantly improving.
• When the leaders recognize meaningful progress on their strategic priorities.

 

In next week’s episode, we'll explain the process for tracking performance linking leading indicators to financial results. Until then, here’s to leading together!

   

 

 

About the Hosts:

 

SUSAN HASTY

Susan Hasty is the CEO of 360 Profit Masters and the host of the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast. Susan considers herself a “maverick leader” on a mission to inspire and equip leaders to ignite their leadership genius.

 

Susan co-founded 7 business ventures over the last 35 years. Her passion is helping business owners and CEOs improve their own clarity, focus and commitment to build more sustainable organizations empowered to make economic liberty a reality.

 

She is certified in Neurolinguistic Programming and is a Strategic HR Business Partner by the Human Capital Institute.   She is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Network of International Leadership coaches.

 

Ready to your business more profitable? Schedule a free call with Susan Hasty

 

GENE MORTON

Gene Morton is a Colorado-based leadership and organization development consultant, as well as a two time award winning author of the award winning book, Leaders First: Six Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction.Over the past 40 years, he’s consulted on more than 100 projects in 85 organizations with leader groups engaged in complex mergers, reorganizations, leadership turnarounds, and system redesigns.  

He developed the Leaders First Alignment Process to provide leadership teams the model they need to gain clarity regarding their unique leadership roles as the organization evolves.  Mastering the intricacies of organized and collaborative leadership and the power of meaning are his passions.

Connect With Us

Subscribe to itunes

Subscribe to stitcher

Subscribe to Google Play

We have been moving through Gene Morton’s “6 Bold Steps” leaders can incorporate to improve collaboration, alignment and trust within their organizations.

This week, Gene and I discuss Step 5: Designing the Leadership team reporting structure around the defined outcomes explained in previous episodes.  (You can listen here and here and here.)

Traditional Reporting structures typically show the individual titles held by the leadership team members.  This default model, in effect, inhibits collaboration and reinforces “silo” based decisions, behaviors and results.

WHY AN OUTCOME BASED STRUCTURE IS FOUNDATIONAL

The increased Information overload faced today is proving to be toxic to personal and interpersonal communications and performance.   Designing the leadership reporting structure around agreed upon and co-created outcomes empowers leaders to “lead together”, adding clarity to how they interact effectively on a daily basis.   

Leaders with a common language around the critical priorities adds focus & clarifies accountability, resulting in greater commitment to what really matters. People better understand the distribution of authority for the delivery of what the company must do to retain its customers.  As Gene says; “When the barns on fire, it’s too late to call a safety meeting”.

Having predefined lines of communication reduces gaps and overlaps and reduces unnecessary meetings and drama.  Dispute resolution is streamlined and contained to only those that truly need to be involved.  

HOW AN EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP STRUCTURE IMPACTS THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION

When the leadership team collaborates effectively, it provides employees with the freedom to work in their area and make proper decisions.

It empowers networks within an organization to achieve the critical outcomes of the company.

Lastly, It provides clarity for new employees and clients and establishes expectations, reducing onboarding time and improves their integration into the new culture.   

EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP STRUCTURES ARE UNIQUE

Creating the leadership reporting structure is an intuitive and creative process. It is much more like creating a piece of art rather than a step-by-step linear process. The leadership team reporting structure is a living document that should evolve with the marketplace and strategy.  

“There is not any "one size fits all copycat" reporting structure that works for many different organizations. The best reporting structures are those designed to best fit the contingencies, vision, and outcomes of each organization. It may be a mix of matrix, hierarchy, communal, product/service line, or project oriented structure. Be sure to design your structure so it best fits your organization's needs, requirements, and strategic vision.” -Gene Morton

A Breakdown of Today’s Episode:

• The difference between a leadership structure and the reporting structure.
• Signs of a dysfunctional or outmoded structure, such as leaders in constant conflict.
• How a company’s reporting structure affects every area of the organization
• Gene’s advice on how to collaboratively design an effective reporting structure.
• How reporting structure can help people understand the lateral relationships they must honor to meet the company’s outcomes.
• How the leadership team designs the leadership structure and how it is a collaborative and creative process.

Today’s Takeaway:

• An effective reporting structure helps to remove the silos with an organization. Reporting structure empowers networks within an organization to achieve the critical outcomes of the company.

• Each reporting structure is designed to empower the accountable leaders and their outcome delivery team to deliver the outcomes in such a way to promote customer loyalty.
• The reporting structure needs to reinforce the strategic vision and priorities of the organization.

In next week's episode, Gene shares his recommendations for how to best roll out the leadership structure to the rest of the organization and the importance of feedback to help finalize a structure that has buy-in from the entire organization.  Stay Tuned!  

Helpful Links & Resources:

• Gene’s book: Leaders First: 6 Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction
• Participate in the conversation by joining our Linkedin group here.

 

About the Hosts: SUSAN HASTY

Susan Hasty is the CEO of 360 Profit Masters and the host of the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast. Susan considers herself a “maverick leader” on a mission to inspire and equip leaders to ignite their leadership genius.

Susan co-founded 7 business ventures over the last 35 years. Her passion is helping business owners and CEOs improve their own clarity, focus and commitment to build more sustainable organizations empowered to make economic liberty a reality.

She is certified in Neurolinguistic Programming and is a Strategic HR Business Partner by the Human Capital Institute.   She is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Network of International Leadership coaches.

 

 

Ready to your business more profitable? Schedule a free call with Susan Hasty

GENE MORTON

Gene Morton is a Colorado-based leadership and organization development consultant, as well as a two time award winning author of the award winning book, Leaders First: Six Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction.Over the past 40 years, he’s consulted on more than 100 projects in 85 organizations with leader groups engaged in complex mergers, reorganizations, leadership turnarounds, and system redesigns.  

He developed the Leaders First Alignment Process to provide leadership teams the model they need to gain clarity regarding their unique leadership roles as the organization evolves.  . Mastering the intricacies of organized and collaborative leadership and the power of meaning are his passions.

 

 

 

 

Connect With Us

 

 

 

Every leader has a role in the leadership structure and is supported by the way the role is integrated with other leaders.

The negotiation process helps leaders to delegate parts of their role to others, in advance, before there is a crisis and while they have time to talk through and think through the consequences.

This captures so well the dilemma we all have about being too busy on one hand but still reluctant to delegate parts of our role to someone else.

How leaders integrate their roles reflects a strategy for succession. It is a process that develops younger leaders can to assume more accountability and freedom to act in the future.

Well defined outcomes orients the organization with their strategic vision.

Mission - Why do we exist?Vision - What are we trying to become?Outcomes:  What do we need to deliver to fulfill our mission and strategic vision?

How we know if they are clear?The Primary role is strategic, tactical & operational

People understand their roles, focus..

People have many roles and need to be adaptable to filling the role.  Leaders need to be able to effectively engage in conversations about roles and be able to re-negotiate their roles on the fly.  

Having clearly defined roles:

• Serves to coordinates decisions, ensuring each leader's actions to deliver, complement and do not interfere with others outcomes.  
• Decisions are balanced in short and long term needs and goals.  
• Acts as controls that decrease impulsive decisions and acts which increase risk and loss.
• Creates a balance between personal objectives and company objectives

Here’s a list of the types of roles we discussed in previous episodes.  

Types of Roles

• Primary role - The  point person; the primary accountability for a certain outcome. The primary role needs the power to design the system for execution.
• Approve Role - Must be in the information loop before decisions are made or actions are taken.
• Consult Role -  Consulted before the planning and design process.
• Inform role - This role must be informed on the process of the outcome delivery.
• Monitor Role -This is a critical role who gives feedback, tracks, and reports.

Consider the following:

• In view of the future are we to enter into new relations that are important to realise our Mission?
• Are there any present relations that had better be reduced or dismantled?  

The answers to these questions can even be accentuated by the following questions:

• Are there any advantages to the present situation which we will lose if we change our relation-pattern?
• Will there appear any (unexpected) disadvantages?
• Next can you have a reconsideration of activities?
• How exactly do we create an added value to these (separate) relations?

RESOURCE LINKS:

• Kolbe.com - Test for Conative Skills
• Gene’s book: Leaders First: 6 Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction

Oops, a audio technical meltdown ruined Gene and my recording.  We made a promise to provide our listeners with a weekly show so I was sweating earlier this week.  Coincidentally, I was a guest on LODGING LEADERS Podcast, hosted by Jonathan Albano, recently.  Jon saved the day for me, suggesting I share it.  Great idea.  I get to share his podcast and solutions with you also.  

In addition to building a successful podcast show, Jonathan is a SAAS entrepreneur and systemic thinker.  He helped me design the infrastructure for the production and distribution platform for LUCRATIVE LEADERSHIP CONVERSATIONS podcast.  Producing great content is worthless if it’s not shared, right.  It’s a production that requires a lot of integration to effectively distribute to you, our subscriber.  You are a subscriber, right?

Much like in an organization, when one piece of the puzzle doesn’t connect, there’s no home run.  

Conversations about role clarity and decision rights don’t only apply to the leadership team.

Every employee needs to understand the structure, the “context”, or overview of the business to understand where they “are” and how they “fit”.  

If you’ve been on our journey to co-create a leadership structure, listening to this episode connects the importance of how important clarity impacts every role in the company.  Not only does it need clarity, it needs constant reinforcement and refinement as the organization changes and grows.  

WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME JOB DESCRIPTIONS WERE  REVIEWED IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?   

In many companies I worked with, the job description is reviewed as often as the insurance policy.  To often, I found job descriptions to be irrelevant to the current role and responsibility.    

Here’s a few things Jonathan and I discuss.

• Why traditional performance reviews are flawed, and why they are as painful for management as they are for the employees.

• Managing capacity.  The concept of “Organizational slack”, a measurement of excess capacity, and why feedback loops are critical to help organizations stay on course.

• Why clarity around people’s jobs, experience and expectations is so important.

• Why you can’t just demand accountability and commitment.

• Why, for employees to be committed, they have to have role clarity, they have to know what the focus is, and everybody on the team needs to know who is accountable for what.

• Creating front line self managing team design using Agile Coaching.  

Everyone needs to understand the details regarding their primary role, the results expected, what success “looks” like, minimum expectations, and clear metrics or how they are evaluated all along the way.  

Unclear role clarity defaults to co-dependency and upward delegation, especially around decisions.

When employees lack understanding, it shows up as a lack of confidence, procrastination, conflict and conflict avoidance.  When roles are “fuzzy” on a systemic basis, it often “feels”  more difficult to engage in conversation about roles than dealing with the daily aggravations   

TAKE AWAY.  Use this form to discover where the gaps are in your role and organization.  Have employees complete with an expressed agreement they will not be judged by their answers.  This will reveal what they think their role is.  That’s not a reflection of how well they do their job.  It’s a direct reflection of how leadership is effectively communicate priorities that impact effectiveness, efficiency and the bottom line. The results provide a great start for lucrative conversations that need to be had.

FREE download for the listeners – the Role Results Matrix – that is designed to help everyone gain role clarity. The download includes a blank matrix, and a completed sample for reference.

Roles shouldn’t be templated as every role is unique and evolves with the company.  In my role as a coach to CEO’s.  I provide a guide in the form of a CEO Role Results Matrix.  If you’d like to receive a copy, email me at [email protected].  I also offer a 2 hour complimentary coaching session for business owners with a leadership team in place.  

Visit my calendar to book an appointment on my website or click here!

If you have an interest in the Hotel business, you’ll find Jonathan's Lodging Leaders podcast invaluable.  The weekly show brings together the best and brightest minds of the hospitality industry to share their stories, insights and actionable advice.

Jon is also Founder & CEO of LodgingMetrics, a secure, cloud-based dashboard that enables hoteliers to track critical business metrics across multiple properties from anywhere at any time, using a laptop, tablet or smart phone, so that they can make informed decisions, identify and solve problems, save precious time, and drive profit!

Next week, Gene and I go deeper on role integration, step 4 in the Leader's First Alignment process.

Until next week, Have more lucrative conversations.

EPISODE RESOURCE LINKS:

• http://lodgingleaders.com
• http://lodgingmetrics.com
• The Role/Results Matrix download

In business today, siloed decisions can create a major gap between strategy and execution. This gap causes a lack of clarity and focus across the organization, and can greatly affect the bottom line and sustainability.

Success depends on the entire senior leadership team to address both their individual functional or divisional responsibilities and their collective responsibility for the company as a whole.

Effectively designing a sustainable organization depends on the senior managers gaining the ability to Identify and act on the points of maximum leverage by recognizing emerging patterns and  making  connections that  link process improvements to strategy.

This is very different from the old regime of divisional optimization which pits  department heads against each other in a war for resources and recognition.

Conflicts of interest lead to decisions that hinder process improvement and often derail real progress.

In An article in Harvard Business Review “Getting It Done: New Roles for Senior Executives”Thomas Hout and John C. Carter explain why integrating leadership roles dramatically changes behavior at the top by allowing for a constructive balance for trade-offs that make tough choices about competing imperatives easier to identify and execute on.

Role Confusion 

Role confusion causes leaders to hold back and to not take initiative. Role confusion can cause conflict when one team member believes someone else is taking their job. This can lead to a volatile working environment.

Gaps occur when no one has the accountability for an outcome, or when two or more think they have the same role in the delivery of the outcome. Confusion can occur when a person thinks they have a role in an outcome but are not sure what it is. When roles are not clear, leaders will tend to hang back when they are needed or jump in where they are not needed.

Unclear roles leads to inaction, lack of initiative, lack of a sense of responsibility, wasted effort, inefficiency, and rework.

When the leadership team defines the who, what, when & how, decisions will be made more efficiently and accountability to an outcome becomes clear.  This reduces cost, reduces leaders errors and omissions, and increase the quality and timeliness of outcomes.

This also makes a company more sustainable  by creating focus and alignment regarding the support network.

Types of Roles

• Primary role - The  point person; the primary accountability for a certain outcome. The primary role needs the power to design the system for execution.
• Approve Role - Must be in the information loop before decisions are made or actions are taken.
• Consult Role -  Consulted before the planning and design process.
• Inform role - This role must be informed on the process of the outcome delivery.
• Monitor Role -This is a critical role who gives feedback, tracks, and reports.

The Power of Leadership Collaboration

Role integration ensures everyone has clarity on how they function independently and interdependently.  Plus, how they can coordinate their work so they don’t trip over each other and ruin the outcome delivery system. Role integration is a method leaders use to synchronize their networks of for better coordination, collaboration and communication.

Integrating leader’s roles is critically important to the function and success of any leadership team to enable the  senior executives to recognize and manage the tension between their individual responsibilities for discrete parts of the business and the collective needs of the business as a whole. They must learn new roles and take on challenging new responsibilities, even for parts of the business that they don’t directly control.

In order for the entire organization to operate optimally, parts must be sub optimized.  

When the leadership team acts collaboratively,  they hold the power to synchronize the capabilities within the entire organization.  They are able to effect needed change and innovate faster than their competitors, gaining a remarkable competitive edge.

Key Takeaways:

• Roles are not clear whenever the delivery of one outcome interferes or reduces the quality of another outcome.

• Increased communication of role integration is a critical component in developing a clarity, focus and accountability throughout networks within the entire company.

• Include the minimum, not maximum amount of people needed to deliver the outcome. This leads to an efficient and sustainable system which can consistently deliver critical outcomes, making meetings  more relevant and effective.  

RESOURCE LINKS:

• https://hbr.org/1995/11/getting-it-done-new-roles-for-senior-executives

• Gene’s book: Leaders First: 6 Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction

Do a quick search for “business failure” and in less than half a second, Google will return more than 10 million results. You read that right. Ten million. Failure in business is a major concern. Profitability and sustainability are two critical areas every company must achieve to survive.

Why do so many organizations fail? According to Gene Morton and his Leaders First process, it is because leaders: 1) Do not set critical outcomes for the organization, and 2) Do not communicate who is accountable and give the power to ensure the outcome is delivered.

In our last episode of the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast, we discussed critical outcomes and how they benefit the organization. Outcomes provide focus and clarity for an organization. They allow leaders to zero in on what needs to happen each and every day.

Once outcomes are determined, the question is: How are we going to deliver these outcomes each day, and how do leaders lead together? How can they communicate and organize themselves to be efficient and effective in those deliveries?

We need someone who WILLINGLY accepts accountability AND is granted the power and support of the entire leadership team. This is WHY we believe ACCOUNTABILITY should be NEGOTIATED Upfront.  

Creating clear accountabilities and agreeing on decision rights is crucial to successful execution. WHY? Because it’s KEY to aligning clarity and focus which enables commitment.

Reflect on the opportunity costs of unmet commitments. I’ve heard some executive say only 50% of the commitments made in their organizations are realized or followed through to completion.  Hopefully, that’s your competition. It’s shocking and a clear sign of a dysfunctional culture. It’s the canary in a mine with deadly gas.  

When leaders don’t have a structure aligned with the company goals and vision, commitment is impossible.  

Rework, disappointment, aggravation and the resulting lack of trust sappes time, energy and money from the bottom line and opportunities for growth. More deadly is burn out; the impact when good employees and good leaders leave, which inevitably, they will.   

The ripple effect…

The habit of not keeping promises becomes the norm; accepted and part of the culture.  The impact on customers, the reputation and the increased risk drains the oxygen organizations need to survive.

Commitment is foundational to sustainability. When a company has it, there’s no obstacle, risk or challenge they can’t overcome..together. Clarity and focus builds commitment through clearly defined accountabilities.  

So, in this episode, we “bring accountability home”.   “The outcome is the key to a company’s survival. When leaders accept accountability for an outcome, that outcome becomes their ‘home base.’ They become the person with power of authority over the success of the outcome.” – Gene Morton

Here’s a Breakdown of Today’s Episode:

• What the term “accountability” really means for an organization (Accountability is more than being a “scapegoat” when mistakes are made!)
• How clearly defining outcomes provides the ability for your leadership team to focus their attention on the outcome while providing clarity about what your organization is about and what everyone should be doing, every day, for your company to survive.
• Why it is important that team leaders communicate with each other on who is accountable for a specific outcome.
• When accountability is negotiated, it can significantly impact the company’s managing capacity.
• Gene shares his views on what a leadership team is accountable for as a whole.
• Gene shares his views on what the CEO of an organization is responsible and accountable for.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself if No One “Steps Up” to Accept Accountability:

1. Is the outcome relevant?
2. Is the outcome worded clearly and correctly?
3. Are there any underlying tensions about this particular outcome within the organization that needs to be addressed?

Today’s Takeaway:

• It is important to ask “Who can we count on to see this decision through to a successful completion?” and “Whose support will be needed for this outcome to be successful?”
• Any person that is in a position or conversation to make decisions should ask who is willing to accept the accountability for the execution and implementation of the decision.

1. Keep tuning the system
2. maintain integrity and champion the strategic vision
3. Keep the feedback loop moving

Any individual person who is the conversation when decisions are going to be made (comany, non-profit, etc.) ask who is going to be willing to take responsibility-- who can we count on to see this thing through to its successful completion and 2nd who’s support will be needed in order to help you be successful.

How to integrate the roles of the leadership team

 

Helpful Links & Resources:

• Gene’s book: Leaders First: 6 Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction

 

 

About the Hosts:

 

SUSAN HASTY

Susan Hasty is the CEO of 360 Profit Masters and the host of the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast. Susan considers herself a “maverick leader” on a mission to inspire and equip leaders to ignite their leadership genius. Susan co-founded 7 business ventures over the last 35 years. Her passion is helping business owners and CEOs improve their own clarity, focus and commitment to

build more sustainable organizations empowered to make economic liberty a reality.

She is a member of the Marshall Goldsmith Stakeholder Centered Coaching Network of International Leadership coaches.  She is certified in Neurolinguistic Programming and is a Strategic HR Business Partner by the Human Capital Institute.

Ready to your business more profitable? Schedule a free call with Susan Hasty

GENE MORTON

Gene Morton is a Colorado-based leadership and organization development consultant, as well as a two time award winning author of the award winning book, Leaders First: Six Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in  nstruction.Over the past 40 years, he’s consulted on more than 100 projects in 85 organizations with leader groups engaged in complex mergers, reorganizations, leadership turnarounds, and system redesigns.  

He developed the Leaders First Alignment Process to provide leadership teams the model they need to gain clarity regarding their unique leadership roles as the organization evolves.  . Mastering the intricacies of organized and collaborative leadership and the power of meaning are his passions.

Welcome back to the Lucrative Leadership Conversations podcast! Over the past two episodes, we have discussed how leaders can master change by leveraging their conversations to impact others within the organization.

My co-host, Gene Morton, has developed the Leaders First Process, which includes “6 Bold Steps” leaders can take to sustain performance and create a collaborative structure that aligns with your vision. In episode 4, we introduced the 6 Bold Steps with Step #1: Leaders agree to commit to personal responsibility. Today, we introduce and unpack Step #2: Defining critical outcomes. Gene and I discuss what these critical outcomes are, what they are not, and how they act like a compass pointing toward profitability. Developing critical outcomes will allow leaders to greatly improve Clarity and Focus within their organization.

Developing clear, precise outcomes within your leadership team and organization is a critical step in building and maintaining company growth and prosperity. According to Gene, it is the foundation that a leadership team needs in order to begin the strategic planning process that will lead to the implementation and deliverance of the outcomes to a company’s customers. Today, Gene shares with us how developing clear outcome statements differ from other types of statements often used within a company’s industry, such as ethical statements. He defines exactly what an outcome statement is as well as how defining and clarifying a company’s outcome will lead to business growth and development.

Here’s a Breakdown of Today’s Episode:

• How does the leadership structure and process compare to strategic planning?
• What is leadership structure and why is it important?
• How Gene learned that leadership structure is often missing from strategic planning within organizations.
• How outcomes differ from a company’s goals and visions.
• Why defining an organization's outcome statements is the core step in the Leaders First process?
• How will an organization know when they have effective outcomes?
• Why it is essential that the leadership team participate in creating outcomes.
• How long does it typically take to develop a company’s outcome statements?
• What “outcomes” are – and what they are not.
• Actionable steps you can take today to help you being developing clear outcomes.

“You want your outcome statements to be as precise as a knife’s edge.” – Gene Morton

5 Critical Characteristics of a Well-Defined Outcome:

1. Outcomes have been written down. (Don’t rely on the leadership team’s memory!)
2. Leaders agree on the outcome.
3. The outcome is something desired by your customers.
4. The outcome is timeless. (Once the outcome is developed and implemented, it remains relevant for many years.)
5. The outcome is independent of any single function or role.

Critical Outcomes Are Not:

• Daily tasks, duties, or responsibilities.
• Financial or operational goals and objectives (If a goal does not lead to an outcome or delivery, it is either wrong or irrelevant. Outcomes supersede goals.)
• General or superficial statements of values, platitudes, or beliefs. (Outcomes are not the same as ethical statements.)
• Theoretical or abstract ideas.
• “High-sounding” company slogans.

“Developing outcome statements requires heart and head work.” – Gene Morton

Today’s Takeaway:

The next time you are in a meeting, at the beginning of the meeting, ask “What is our outcome for this session?” Then, continue to ask the same question at each meeting or exchange that you are involved in. This will help you to start thinking about your company’s outcomes.

 

Helpful Links & Resources:

• Gene’s Book: Leaders First: 6 Bold Steps to Sustain Breakthroughs in Construction

In the world of business, the goal today is increased collaboration. This concept has gained traction and evolved significantly over the last couple of decades. But what is it, and how do we achieve effective collaboration in today’s shifting leadership environment?

Collaboration is when leaders pause to have conversations with the people that they're leading from the standpoint of testing ideas and looking at potential decisions from several different angles. Collaborating in a business context also involves gathering input and simply being sociable, in some cases. It is generally the back and forth conversation that naturally occur during the work day.

The leader needs to go to the people, sit down, talk over the situation, and get their input into what direction the leader thinks is the best for the organization when it comes to making a decision or setting up a policy. Research has found these different levels of collaboration in the decision making process leads to more productive outcomes and as well as building strong motivation within teams.

In order for teams to be truly collaborative, leaders need to address four key areas. Leadership expert Gene Morton, specializing in M&A and business reorganizations, developed the Leaders First Process. This process takes a fresh approach and unique outlook on these four keys that lead to increased collaboration. In today’s interview, Gene Morton and Susan Hasty discuss these building blocks to collaboration.  

• How the proper leadership structure affects the entire company (14:50)
• Critical outcomes vs. Big hairy audacious goals (18:15)
• Personal responsibility vs. Team accountability (28:45)
• Addressing conflict and improving leadership conversations (45:30)

Collaboration may be the Holy Grail of business today, but many leaders have no idea how to implement it correctly or effectively. Do you want to be more collaborative in your organization, but don’t know where to begin? Have you tried and failed?

You start by having the conversation up front and figuring out who's going to be accountable. Leaders face the challenge of an exponentially changing future. Becoming more collaborative by focusing on defining critical outcomes and determining accountability within the company will allow organizations to become more profitable and, in return, more sustainable.

We want to have a “Lucrative Leadership Conversation” with you. Our mission is to help leaders and companies become more collaborative, profitable, and sustainable. Learn more at 360profitmasters.com or email [email protected]