Don’t Rest on Your Laurels or Your Business May “Rest in Peace!”

By Dave Anderson

As a leader, your job is to challenge the process in your enterprise. You must challenge conventional thinking, your people, your policies, your strategies and your assumptions that what made you successful in the past will get the job done tomorrow. Your task is to instill in your team that whatever success you’ve attained is a stepping-stone, not a pedestal. Real leaders don’t lie in bed at night dreaming about how great things are. They continue to disturb the equilibrium in their organization because they know that when life is too safe and predictable, organizations are less responsive to change, which places them at maximum risk. Remember, whatever goes with the flow winds up down the drain!

If you haven’t challenged the process lately in your organization, here are a some ways to “make waves:”

1. Attack when things are going well.
When things are going well you must stay in “attack mode.” The best time to set a stretch forecast or take a risk is from a position of strength. The best time to implement change or make a big decision is when you have momentum, because that’s when it will be less noticed. The best time to train is when things are going well—keeps people sharp and lets them know there’s still room for improvement.

The best time to remove a poor performer is when you’re on a roll. Many managers give their laggards a stay of execution because the business is making money overall. This is shortsighted. It costs far more when your weakest link breaks momentum, saps morale and creates distractions when you’re on a roll than it does when you’re in a rut. Challenge conventional thinking by attacking when things are going well. Don’t sit on the ball; run up the score!

2. Set uncomfortable forecasts.
Studies show that motivation is highest when people have about a 50/50 chance of reaching a goal. They should not be able to reach a forecast with a business-as-usual approach. Without pressure to perform, you’ll have to go in every day and ring a bell just to wake people up. An effective forecast forces change, risk and high impact decisions concerning people and strategy. When your expectations are too low, you presume incompetence. And when you presume incompetence, you unwittingly create it.

If you’re not stretching people, you’re not leading them. All great performers want to be stretched. They want to find out how far they can go. If your people don’t welcome the challenge, you’ve got the wrong people.

3. Conduct brutally honest employee reviews.
A survey conducted on my Website (www.learntolead.com) showed that over 50% of workers say they’ve never had a formal review. This is an indicator of clueless management. Honest reviews keep people alert, focused and in a stretch mode. Your people need fast, frequent feedback in order to grow.

Feedback must be direct and constructive. People must know where they stand-for better or worse-in no uncertain terms. Honest employee reviews reinforce strengths, acknowledge solid performances and confront shortfalls and deficient behaviors. They allow you to devise a strategy to help each team member develop personally and professionally. That’s what coaching is all about: observing, analyzing and offering feedback on performance. I recommend a formal review once each month with each of your direct reports.

4. Fix or fire bad managers
You have a significant obligation to invest in the development of your managers. There’s simply too much at stake to take shortcuts here. Lousy managers leave scars on the self-esteem of their people. They don’t manage to win; they manage not to lose their jobs. They break momentum, sap morale and create a culture of chaos. You must become less tolerant of ineffective managers. Nothing breathes fresh life into a workplace or brings a faster turnaround in results and morale like replacing a bad manager. Consider the ten people suffering under the bad boss and your decision to remove him or her becomes much easier.

If you don’t make some waves on this point you will certainly drown. Step up and pull the trigger! Remember, it’s not the managers you fire that make you miserable; it’s the ones you should fire but keep that make you miserable.

This is an edited version of an article that originally appeared in the Small Business Idea-Letter, available by subscription at (877) 700-1322 or idealetter@aol.com.

To learn more, consider the following AMA seminars:

• The Voice of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire, Influence and Achieve Results
  
• Coaching and Counseling for Outstanding Job Performance
  
• Coaching Your Sales Team

Author Bio: Dave Anderson is an author, trainer and speaker on leadership and sales topics. He can be reached at (650) 941-1493 or at www.LearnToLead.com.