The role of leadership is to align, support and enable teams to do the work they were hired to do.

Leadership’s role is not to follow up or “hold people accountable.”  When the right people are hired and the right plans are in place, people can execute and leadership can support them.

Leadership ensures that people are working on projects and tasks that are aligned with the rest of the goals of the company.

They ensure that team members have the commitment or emotional support to do their part in the process.  Leadership can assess if skill development is necessary on any of the individual sub-steps, in any of the projects, well in advance because they know what everyone is working on.

In addition, leadership can ensure that the proper bandwidth and resources—money, people, time, supplies and more–are available to complete the outlined projects. They can focus on alignment and ensuring that all the projects being worked on are the right ones to drive the overall company goals.

Dr. Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, authors of One Minute Manager, developed a model in the 1960s that’s still used today in the best-run companies on the planet, and it’s called “Situational Leadership.”  When companies have tightly reverse-engineered their plans, they can spend time effectively leading their people.  Situational leadership involves the leader giving the correct balance of either skill development or emotional support to help their subordinates perform at optimal levels.  Being able to slow down and give the proper amount of skill development to their team on an ongoing basis is critical.

A company’s leadership teams need a weekly meeting structure to update each other and stay on the same page. ‘Weekly Action Review,’ or a WAR meeting is a weekly ninety minute meeting that each department holds for their entire team. The format is based on a process called ‘Forum Meetings’ used by Entrepreneurs Organization (EO) and Young Presidents Organization (YPO).

For the first thirty minutes of WAR, each person give a quick three to five minute update that answers these questions:

► What went well last week?

► What didn’t go well last week?

► Where am I stuck?

► What are the TOP three things to work on this week?

Having each person follow this system keeps each team aligned with what their working on.

The second thirty minutes is when the team reviews the metrics on the dashboard for that business area, looking for areas of concern as well as bright spots. By reviewing the key numbers for their business area every week, people start holding each other accountable, and realizing their key metrics roll up to the leadership team, so they must figure out the answers before they are asked.

During the final thirty minutes the group tries to “un-stick” some of the areas that team members were stuck on earlier. The group works together to share experiences and ideas to help out their teammates.  This simple sharing process is really impactful in building a team versus allowing the creation of silos, which prevent unification.

A few years ago one of my mentors was telling me about a story at Starbucks.  He was a Senior VP at Starbucks reporting into Howard Schultz.

Years earlier, Howard had called my mentor on his cell phone and asked ‘Why is the letter B not working on the signage at the 50th & Wallingford location’ in Seattle.

My mentor laughed out loud and responded ‘Really?, Howard is that really the question you should be asking me when you’re CEO?’

Howard frustrated replied ‘Yes, why isn’t the sign working?’  And my mentor replied ‘I don’t know. I’ll check. And I’ll get it fixed. However, if we’re really going to grow this brand our leadership team needs to ask leadership questions.’

‘Howard, instead of asking why isn’t the letter B working we need to be asking questions like this instead…’

‘I noticed the letter B on a sign at 50th & Wallingford isn’t working.  What systems do we have in place to ensure that all letters, on all signs, at all locations, in all countries, are always working?’

My mentor was right.

Entrepreneurs all too often ‘Major in the Minors’ and get stuck asking questions about the details.  And yes, the details matter.  And the details will always get fixed.  However, instead of just asking the question about something specific like a letter on a sign not working, try using the details as specific examples to ask larger more systemic questions. People don’t fail, systems do.  Look deeper in the systems that need to be fixed or created.

As a business coach and mentor, I suggest that you start asking the right questions and you’ll grow your company too.

If Monkeys could be Business Mentors

I threw out the corporate 360 Reviews years ago in favor of something I made up that I call ‘Monkeys Looking Sideways’.

Years ago at a seminar I heard a story about monkeys in a tree.  When the monkey at the top looked down all he saw was smiling monkeys looking up.  However, the monkeys below had an entirely different view.

It was at this seminar that I thought about doing 360 Reviews live and in front of the rest of the team.  I always try to build teams that embrace healthy conflict and that want to build more trust.  Well open communication like this takes trust up to an awesome level.  I built this exercise so everyone on a team would know what everyone else thought and they’d hear it in person so they could grow together.

The Monkeys Looking Sideways exercise works like this.

Essentially it is a verbal, in person, group 360 feedback. Ideally get everyone out of the office for a half to a full day.  It’s a great exercise to do on company or team retreats too.

1) Give everyone 1 pad of Post It Notes and a pen.
2) Do the review of the groups leader or CEO first.
3) Have each person write down the TOP 5 things that the person being reviewed:

a) Should continue
b) Should improve on

4) Then with the person being review staying in their seats, have one person at a time stand up and read out each post it note.  Start with all the positives first and then they read the stuff to work on second.
5) The person being reviewed can only say thank you or ask a clarifying question.  There is no debate.
6) Have all of the Post It Notes put up on a flip chart and give them to the person being reviewed so they can type them up and refer to them in their one-on-one coaching meetings with their supervisor over the year to keep working on improving.
7) Repeat the process for each person in the room.

This exercise done properly takes about 45 min per person but will be way more effective than the garbage that comes out of any online or 3rd party 360 Review Process.

In addition to using it in your company try it with an EO, YPO Forum or TEC/Vistage group on a retreat too.  It’d be awesome…

Many CEOs miss out by not implementing a board for their company. As a CEO coach, here are some keys that i can share in creating a high-performing board:

1. Know what a board does: The board advises and helps hold accountable the CEO and leadership of a company. The Board of Advisors can be comprised of any mix of internal and external members the CEO wants.

2. Recognize difference between Board of Advisors and Board of Directors:  This hit me while I was speaking to a group of EO members before a Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha.  A Board of Advisors cannot fire the CEO while a Board of Directors can.  This difference calls for different people on each type of board, and it’s important to scout for them differently.

3. Have a clear painted picture: The more clearly a CEO paints the picture for the board, the better advice the board will give. See more on that here. You want the board to be thinking ahead of where the company is today. Too often board members get embroiled in tactical, day-to-day or urgent matters when their time would have been better spent discussing the balance sheet, or how they’d handle things like massive currency fluctuations, recessions, continued hyper-growth, etc. One of the board’s goals should be to stay ahead of the vision of the company.

4. Find the right people: Look for company builders for your board. Too many people make the mistake of putting lawyers and accountants on their board, whom tend to give advice around why you shouldn’t do things versus what you should do. Entrepreneurship is risky, and taking advice from employed lawyers and accountants can significantly stifle your growth or misdirect you.

5. Get a 3-5 year commitment: Stack your board with company builders that are LONG TERM.  This will cause them to have a vested interest in the outcome and allow them to get deeper into the psyche of the company.  Fly-by-night experts should only be used for certain tasks, not long-term projections and ongoing advice.

6. Surround yourself with giants: Taking advice from people who have led companies larger than yours is critical as you grow, and the complexity of your systems and strategic issues evolve.  Find people that intimidate you a little bit.  This will cause a reverence and respect, and it will be easier to take their advice.