Coaching Your People to Effectiveness

Coaching, the day to day management of people is the incremental process of improving your organizations effectiveness and a lost art.

Good coaching begins with specific expectations, or outcomes that people are pointed at in accomplishing their job. These expectations should cascade down from the Vision and be driven by the Purpose of the company. There should be NO WASTE in the expectations you have of the people you supervise. Expectations should move the business forward, and help the person grow. They should be clear, concise, doable and as Ken Blanchard says, able to be expressed in less than a minute. In fact I've developed a process of writing job descriptions that will actually guide you as a manager in defining and setting day to day or week to week expectations.

I call them Outcome Based Job Descriptions.

There will be mistakes as people grow of course and those mistakes are entirely permissible and necessary if people are going to learn and grown. In fact, Bill Pollard the Chairman of 3 billion dollar Service Master asserts that "there is no attaining to potential without grace."

Grace is when you "permit" failure in the pursuit of improvement. Grace is a vital part of the improvement process. The idea is to define the "playing field" the degree of authority you give so that these mistakes don't harm the business.

But getting back to expectation. If you have a great "selection process" you will have great people, and if you have great people, you will exponentially empower yourself as a leader. So for expectations to work, and they should, you must have the RIGHT people. Expectations, good ones, define the result and the accomplishment you want from people and provide a context that allows you to give people the freedom they need to add value- or move the business forward.

So good coaches give the right people specific expectation as the beginning of the coaching process.

Performance Leadership

Last week I implemented a “Performance Leadership” process at a client. It took me 13 months to do it.

What?

First let me describe what I did. Most people call what I did performance management. Set up a system to evaluate people against standards and award pay or bonus based on how they did. As you’ll recall from previous posts management is defined as: “getting things done through people.” Management is what we all do day to day. We get stuff done and we employ people, assign them tasks, and they do them. This is management. Leadership is a different animal. Leadership is about a destination. With people, leadership has to do with developing their potential in the context of their job. Since potential is unrealized, they aren’t “there” yet, it is a destination! This makes developing your people a leadership outcome, not a management outcome. So performance leadership is an Holistic process of Leadership that goes way beyond the standard “performance management” paradigm. Now don’t get me wrong, your spend a huge amount of time managing- “getting things done through people”. But unless you also Lead performance and help them grow, you are essentially falling further behind every day.

The thing that is quite important about this performance leadership process is that it began 13 months ago and followed this development process:

• Selection- Finding the RIGHT people
• Training- On-board people using a specific OUTCOME BASED job descriptions
• Coaching- Incrementally assigning work every day that asks people to improve in ONE thing.
• Leadership- being a catalyst for growth in people.
• Motivation- creating an environment where people choose to do what you want them to do.
• Redirecting Poor Performance- changing minds to change behavior
• Performance Review and Development- OUTCOME BASED Assessments, and Core Competencies from the Values- that lead people to grow.

Each of these components is part of what I call “The Management Series” a tool belt for managing and leading people.

When managers manage and lead with these skills in play, performance development is an OUTCOME and people succeed. Performance Leadership is the key point. If we manage well and lead people, we empower them, and fulfill their potential. If people fulfill their potential at work and they apply it everyday, thee benefit t your company is obvious.

Jeffrey Pelletier

651-492-8540 ph

651-304-1537 fx

www.becominggreat.com

www.righteousfreeenterprise.net

http://www.liveperson.com/jeff-pelletier

Becoming Great!©

jeff@becominggreat.com

Retained Search

Let me ask you a question.
How important is it to find and employ the RIGHT people?
When I ask this question in seminars I lead on recruiting and interviewing I find that to a person people in attendance say that the RIGHT people, especially managers and executives, is THE most important thing they can do.
This is true in marriage, in friends, in all our important relationships.
I teach and practice "selection", not hiring and selection is the key to finding the right person.
Selection implies deliberation and a process. This is why I recommend and practice "retained search" for your managers and executive instead of contingency recruiters.
So why would a business use contigency recruiters? A contingency recruiter is a highly motivated person who competes with other highly motivated people in the same business to find people for your business. While many of them are highly competent, they have a disincentive to do all the necessary work to really match the person to the critical criteria you need to use to find the right person. In short they don't get paid unless you hire someone they send you, so what they do, like most brokers, they work on the deals that are most likely to pay. Make sense?

And when they find someone for you, they tend to sell that person pretty hard. Remember they need to sell to make money. It's nobody's fault, they need to feed their family too. The way it works for you is that you get a lot of resumes` and interview many candidates, but you don't necessarily get the RIGHT person.

With retained search for managers and executives, you get a guarantee, (three to six months free replacement), and you get a "selection" process that is deliberately designed to provide you with a person who's work will move your company forward.
Retained search, especially one in which a "selection value stream" is employed, will be an investment from which your company and you will prosper if done well.

www.becomingreat.com
Jeff

Becoming Great- Why OUTCOMES??

If you've read anything of this blog you understand that I focus on OUTCOMES.
A key outcome for my clients is teaching them to write Outcome Based Job Descriptions. If you're "up-to-speed" you also know that the prevailing wisdom in HR is that this is "unfair". Performance is the key. (Doing things correctly.)

Baloney.

In my work with customers and business owners outcomes, results are what matter.

I first understood this when a supervisor or business owner sent a subordinate to "training" and they came back and the business got virtually nothing from it. The business had invested between $300 and $500 and the person had been out of the business for a day, ( another $200-$500) and the business is hardly effected by the training. This is quite a point of frustration as you can imagine.
What I noticed is that the skills or knowledge wasn't, in the end, targeted, pointed at, having a genuine business effect. So of course no effect was achieved. DUH!

As I examined that fact I looked at performance management systems, and performance evaluations and training plans and I noticed that none of them had measureable business impact as their GOAL.

This epiphany caused me to discover the following principle: Outcomes drive processes, training, valuations, and behavior in general. And here's a secret, being Outcome driven is, by nature LEAN. If I want to get to San Francisco, a destination is an outcome) I plan the shortest, cheapest route I can, to get there in the least time, with the most return. Lean.

Performance based job descriptions are NOT Outcome Based, although HR gurus want you to think that.
This is a new paradigm---- it works WONDERS.

jeff@becominggreat.com
Jeff Pelletier, MA
651-492-8540
Helping people and organizations fulfill their potential.

Hunters and Farmers- two kinds of salespeople © 2008

Sales people tend to fall in to one of two main categories that I have identified.
On the one hand are the Hunters.

Hunters are in it for the kill. They are always smelling fresh prey, they are always tracking, sniffing, looking, following their leads and finding prey. Their thrill comes from the kill. The real good ones want to dress their kill and preserve it to get the most meat (revenue) out of it and they work very hard to do that. They follow-up with their customers and stay connected to them. But the minute those customers stop buying don't look for the Hunter to hang around too long. Always on the hunt, the scent of the next prey is always present or if he\she finds fresh tracks (leads) you can be sure the Hunter will be after it. Now I wrote a second ago that the good ones will close well, and take care of the customer, but most hunters aren't very good at follow-through and the details of "after the sale service" are not something they care about generally. They don't stay in one place too long either. They tend to burn out or move on to fresh territory. The Hunter has many customers and not all of them are high quality.

On the other hand are the Farmers

Farmers are careful to produce a harvest. They focus on the herd, and field, and are always looking for the best yield in their harvest. They invest a lot of care in the relationship part of selling and are beloved by their customers. They are trusted. Their customers want to give them all the business, but the buyers have strict policies against that. They nurture and cultivate their customers . They are close personally with their customers and really care about their businesses. The bad Farmers don't close the sale well. They are mostly take orders. The really bad ones aren't good at administration either. The great Farmers get high quality customers and become the "vendor of choice" with those customers. The great farmers really look for customers who match a specific profile and seek to develop "business intimacy" with those customers and long term mutually beneficial relationships with them. The bad Farmers think customer service is a subsititute for a closing. "They'll come around, we just have to wait," they'll say. But if they say that normally, you have a problem. Good Farmers are intentional and they expect more business and will move on from a beloved customer who isn't producing. The Farmer has a lot fewer customers, but all good Farmers are high producing.

I have a client with one of each. Their revenue is almost the same. Surprised?

Regardless of the type of sales person you select, you must still match them to the three key criteria:

Competence- they can do the job

Character- they think like you

Chemistry- you like them personally, and can relate to them.

For more on that click www.becominggreat.com

Vision- BHAG- whatever

My view, in my work as an organizational effectiveness consultant, I stress that truly effective organizations are "purpose driven" and "vision focussed". Purpose is all about why it exists. "What is your company's impact in the world?" How does it's presence make a difference? I have a client, an emerging US manufacturer (now that is something we don't see every day), whose purpose is: to help our customer's to grow and save money. This purpose took about two months to identify. Another's is "to help our clients achieve their goals". This client is a law firm. A law FIRM!!!. Note that the purpose is to help their clients achieve ALL the client's goals not just the legal ones. A purpose like that, should and does drive behavior- and should and does justify it. A great purpose gives an overarching organizational foundation for all behavior and is the "tap root" for all Outcome Based job descriptions. So "purpose" is the driving force of the organization internally.

Vision on the other hand is the target of the company's interim goals and marketing and gives clarity and definition to all of its external initiatives. All of these external initiatives must be informed by the vision and align with it. Each of the departments should have a vision, a clear picture, as what they need to look like and how they need to operate, in the fulfillment of the company's vision.

The VIVID description, another key part of the vision, will naturally FUEL this activity as it will describe in detail the major outcomes and accomplishments of the company in the various departments. It will describe in detail how it will all look when it is complete.
Here is an example:

Vivid Description: With our intimate knowledge of our customers we will provide products and services so valuable that we are considered an integral member of their team that they cannot live without. We will collaborate in a way that creates a tremendous competitive advantage to our customers. This competitive advantage will come from providing innovative products to the market faster than anyone, at the greatest value to the customer, and with quality that exceeds the consumer’s expectations. Great customers will seek us out. Our halls will be filled with awards and testimonials bestowed upon us by our customers and suppliers. Our culture and environment will attract the most passionate, committed, and highest achieving people in our industry. Our employees live our core values. We are proud of our accomplishments but are never satisfied with the status quo. We will continuously improve in everyway, everyday.

You can see an HR vision in there can't you? and what is this customer intimacy and how is that a sales strategy? What is the operational paradigm required for this vision?

So you can see how this can all work- Can you also see how this is "control" before the fact?
Liberating AND controlling. HMMMM.

www.becominggreat.com

OUTCOMES- The end of Job Descriptions

The End of Job Descriptions
By
Jeffrey A Pelletier M.A.
jeff@becominggreat.com

651-492-8540

The standard job description is a list of the generalized responsibility tasks, activities, scope, duties that a person must meet in the course of their employment. Most job descriptions are nothing more than task lists, and an outline of a “flow” of the work, in an attempt to somehow prescribe the activity of the job as a means of controlling the work in advance.

I’m not sure this approach ever made any sense, but NOW it is obsolete and a new paradigm is needed, in short, job descriptions at every level must be reinvented. Why, in an era of constant improvement what we DO is always changing.

Welcome to Outcome Based© job descriptions!!!

In a world of constant change it is not feasible and does not make any sense to try to describe the tasks or sequence of a job, and in fact it is, plainly, why job descriptions once written, are virtually never looked at again. Job tasks are constantly changing. Outcome Based© job descriptions on the other hand define what you want the job (and the person doing it) to accomplish, to define its eternal end point and its subsidiary destinations to getting to it. The end point is the job’s purpose, the reason it exists, and its primary outcome. This approach produces a template for employee and manager alike, because it provides a meaningful context for managing performance and succeeding at work. How?

First, it gives the employee a sense of significance and purpose that is linked and informed by the organization’s purpose, and second, Outcome Based© job descriptions give the supervisor or manager a benchmark for helping people succeed because the purpose and outcomes also define employee success and contribute directly to organizational success, and third, they liberate people to be innovative in how they accomplish these outcomes so there is a deep sense of relevance, people know what they are charged with accomplishing and can point to that success. A read of the book First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently (Hardcover)by Marcus Buckingham (Author), Curt Coffman (Author) Managers have something tangible to reward at review time. Fourth, business is about results, when jobs are formulated towards success, managing people towards that success becomes a management obligation.

The idea for them came from inspiration I received from the book “Good to Great- Why some companies make the leap and others don’t” by Jim Collins. This book led me to wonder, why are some companies making the leap and others not? I have been studying the Collins’ team’s work for a few years, and do not detect much praxis within their findings, not much actual guidance. But that is also not what the book is about. It is afterall a study of success and the ingredients of that success. But the recipe is lacking. I’ve been contemplating that recipe now for four years and I believe the way to greatness can be found. One obvious answer is that most companies don’t really challenge the status quo. How we look at jobs and how we manage and describe them has remained pretty static. I believe its time to change that for the better. In the book, and on his web site, http://www.jimcollins.com/, he points to the difference between a job and responsibility and Mr. Collins uses the example of an Air Traffic Controller. The person doing this job has one over-riding responsibility, to make sure the planes don’t crash, and they take that responsibility very seriously. This responsibility is the purpose of that job and thank heavens, why it exists.

But here is a description of the job taken directly from the FAA website’s employment page for an Air Traffic Control Specialist (Developmental)
Duties : Terminal controllers control air traffic at airports and give pilots taxiing and takeoff instructions, air traffic clearances, and advice based on their own observations and information from the National Weather Service, Air Route Traffic Control Centers (ARTCCs), flight service stations, pilots, and other sources. They transfer control of aircraft to the ARTCC controller when the aircraft leaves their airspace, and they receive control of aircraft coming into their airspace. This is a developmental Air Traffic Control Specialist (ATCS) position responsible for the safe, orderly and expeditious movement of air traffic through the nation's airspace. Developmental controllers receive a wide range of training in controlling and separating live air traffic within designated airspace at and around an air traffic control tower or radar approach control facility.

It’s a good thing, in my view, having looked at this job description, that the culture in the tower, and the Controllers themselves, understand the responsibility they have,.

Outcome based© job descriptions work like this:

Determine the organization’s purpose-
Determine the job’s purpose. (It’s primary outcome)
Determine the key outcomes that when achieved fulfill the job’s purpose.

Let’s look at each of these.

The core purpose- Why does the organization exist?

First, you can see the cascading effect of the flow and the linkage that naturally occurs. The organization’s purpose is its reason for being. Articulating this purpose is a powerful process and it can take weeks or months to determine. (Of course you don’t stop the job purpose discussion, if this isn’t in place.) The point is to be concise, and real, authentic. Don’t make it up. The idea is that you want to define the real or actual purpose of the organization which may or may not be the current or stated purpose even if one exists. Authenticity is a key, necessary, organizational component throughout, and provides tremendous learning to help owners, founders and presidents understand why they created or are leading their organization. It is critical and applicable for a whole host of reasons. For example when Walt Disney came to the conclusion that his company’s purpose was “to make people happy”, it informed his organization and it’s work, in profound ways.

Crystal D is a St Paul Minnesota crystal awards maker in the employee recognition industry and went through the process of purpose definition. About four years ago, I began a consulting relationship with them. During the discovery phase of relationship, I spent intermittent time (to allow time for reflection) asking Chuck Dahlgren, the owner and founder, about his business. Why does it exist? What is the big idea want to achieve? What is the essence of the primary on-going outcome you want your organization to achieve? His first answer was to “make money”. After about six weeks Chuck came to the realization that he really had a higher purpose. Somehow he wanted to create his awards in such a way that when the person looked at it years after receiving it, that person would re-live the feeling they had when they were originally presented with it. He wanted the award to invoke this feeling. This understanding became the following purpose- “to turn emotions into memories.” Every employee “gets it”. From design to etching, to boxing and shipping, this purpose is the basis, the foundation, of everything else they do.

(Identifying the real Core Values is also a critical step that I am not addressing here as they don’t impact the job description directly.)

Determine the purpose of the job relative to the organization’s purpose.- why does this job exist?

A job’s purpose is its primary outcome and its “responsibility” to the company. A job’s purpose should support the attainment of the organization’s core purpose directly or it should directly support a job that does. If you can’t formulate a meaningful purpose for a job in this manner, chances are you should question why that job exists at all.

A word about Value-Added. Every job should add value. Adding value is that which you do that moves your business forward. Not those things that make money, or lower costs, but those things that move the business forward. Those things you do that don’t move your business forward should be avoided and those things that do should be pursued. So when it comes to determining a job’s purpose, one way to determine it is to ask, “How does this job move the business forward?’

Jim Grill the Vice President of Human Resources at Apex International in Chaska, MN, a fast rising contract manufacturing company in the personal care industry, has the following job purpose: “to make people the competitive advantage of the company”. This purpose was ordained by the President and founder of the company, as an “annual goal” which we converted to an on-going purpose because it was unattainable as an annual goal. I asked Dave Goldberg, “What is it you want Jim to accomplish? After a day or two he said,. “ I want people to be our competitive advantage.” This is powerful because Apex is a contract manufacturer. Most contract manufacturers are like commodities, which as we all know are price driven. In order to change that perception Dave realized that people were going to make the difference. My role was to add value by suggesting that the RIGHT people are the keys. In order to move the business forward, Dave realized that people need to be his competitive advantage.

Jim is very clear why his job exists, even more so when it is tied to the company’s core purpose:
“To contribute to our customer’s success, by making people the competitive advantage of the company.”

Jim understands two things: 1, Apex is all about the customer, and 2, people are the key. Armed with a responsibility like this, Jim has no trouble being motivated and focusing his efforts. This context is a powerful presence in all of our conversations.

And did you notice that his job’s purpose is eternal? It will be a constant in his work-life, and never needs updating, only maintaining. How creative and innovative he is will determine his success and you can clearly see that he has the full endorsement of the top of the organization.
Determine the key outcomes that when achieved fulfill the job’s purpose. - these are the stops along the road to success?

Within each job, identify and articulate the key outcomes that, when achieved, fulfill the job’s core purpose. When you do this step it will be tempting to simply write the tasks or the sequence you want followed. This would be a huge mistake. Identify the subsidiary outcomes. For example one Sales VP has as his job’s outcome- Develop new revenue streams, new Strategic customers, or identify new market segments that meet Apex revenue and earnings criteria.

It is important and critical that the subsidiary outcomes are “results” or outcomes AND that they LEAD behavior not describe it. In the era of constant improvement HOW we work is always improving, but another look at the above sales outcome, and you can see how it moves the business forward.

Each of the subsidiary outcomes should cascade out of the job’s purpose and when they are attained, fulfill the job’s primary outcome, its purpose.

Here are some examples.

VP Human Resources-To contribute the success of our customers’ by making people the competitive advantage.
Sales VP-To contribute to the success of our customers by helping them to grow and save money.

CFO-To contribute to the success of our customers by ensuring Generally Acceptable Accounting Practices and meaningful and pertinent interpretation and measurement of financial information.
VP Operations- To contribute to the success of our customers by creating and maintaining lean supply chain management and continuous improvement in production.

The company’s core purpose is: To contribute to the success of our customers by helping them to grow and save money. If you study the above job purposes in the light of this core purpose, you can see that each job’s purpose does in fact MOVE THE COMPANY FORWARD.

Summary
Reinventing the job description in this way, provides leadership with a performance “infrastructure” that will accelerate performance management. It focuses on what you want people to accomplish, not what you want them to do. It defines their responsibility to the company. It makes jobs meaningful, value added, measurable. What gets measured gets done, as the saying goes. Outcome Based© job descriptions are one important key (of FIVE that I use) to help organizations become great. While it sounds easy, it is surprisingly difficult to do.

To learn more, visit http://www.becominggreat.com/.

Jeffrey A Pelletier, MA- transformation@becominggreat.com 651-492-8540
Not many Strategic HR professionals have successfully operated $14 million dollar companies, increased revenues, lowered costs and increased profits, with 10 years of P&L management. And Jeff has over 20 years of Human Resource experience.

He has worked with Andersen Windows Inc, in Bayport MN and Crystal D in St Paul, Stealth Manufacturing, Apex International, The Village Company to name a few. He was with General Mills Restaurants, Inc for fifteen years working seven years in operations and eight years in Management Development. He was the International Director of Human Resources for Sbarro, Inc. of Commack New York, where he developed an international management training center. As an operations he worked as Director, Operations for Pannekoeken Family Restaurants, Inc of Edina MN, where he assisted in the company’s IPO, and created a training system that increased incremental sales by seven per cent. Jeff oversaw the operations function leading the company to profitability for the first time in its 11 year history. Recently, he transformed the Human Resource Function within a complex for-profit, and non-profit organization. He has developed a “system of transformation” inspired by the book “Good To Great- Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t” by Jim Collins . He has no association with Jim Collins or his organization.

Education and Professional Development
He has an MA from Bethel University and Seminary in St Paul, MN. Jeff also is a certified coach of the Leadership Catalyst Process, and an emerging expert in the Good to Great transformation process. He is accomplished at Situational Leadership (Blanchard and Associates) and has led over 1000 seminars covering the full spectrum of management and leadership development. He has developed “The Management Series”, a comprehensive management training seminar series. He is expert at executive search and at finding the right people. He is a member, Society for Human Resource Management.

Becoming Great! Leadership VS Management

Most "leadership" classes are really management classes. I'm not really sure why. Probably because in these times, "leadership" sells better. But these two are not the same. Once you understand the difference between management and leadership it becomes plainly obvious that this is the case.

Let's compare.

The word management comes from the word manos- which is Latin for hand. We could say that the word manager literally means "handler". The word implies the execution of work, as with the hands, hence the classic definition: "getting things done (work), through others". It also very much implies the present tense, today, or this week. Managers get stuff done just as the word implies.

The word for leader and the concept of leadership comes from a Greek word pros-tithemi which means to stand before. So the word for leadership implies standing out in front of. The word lead implies a destination hence the definition: being a catalyst for the achievement of the potential of people and organizations. The potential of your followers is the fulfillment of their abilities, talents and gifts. The potential of your organization is described in it's VISION.

If leaders do their jobs well, they don't have to do them for very long. Because over time good leaders become less and less necessary.

Leadership and management are not the same thing but one is subsidiary to the other. Leaders manage, but managers do not lead. You must become a leader in order to do that. And leadership is the more complex of the two.

That said, I have known leaders who could not or did not want to, manage. The smart ones hired competent managers to "get things done" in their business, to help the organization to make the daily, weekly monthly steps towards the destination they've mapped out.

Leaders tend to think in outcomes and vision. Managers tend to think in tasks, goals, and processes. Both are necessary but lets not confuse these two disciplines because they are not the same.

More to come.

Jeff Pelletier
jeff@becominggreat.com
651-492-8540

Selecting Great Employees

Selecting Great Employees
The process of becoming a great organization requires key elements that must be in place- some are foundational and others are dynamic. Two of the foundational elements are your core purpose and core values. Together, as practiced, they are your organization's Culture. The purpose and values should be “founder driven”. Chuck Dahlgren, founder and president of Crystal-D in St Paul MN took the time to determine and articulate his core purpose and values. (This idea of "as practiced" is HUGE.) What’s more, working with Crystal D we helped them to integrate this organizational “character”, (which translates to corporate personality) along with competence and chemistry to form a “selection process”. The improvement he's seen has significantly helped his company to grow 20% per year for that last three years, because Chuck takes selecting the right people very seriously.
The RIGHT people are the most important asset of your organization- according to Jim Collins, author of “Good to Great, Why Some Companies Make The Leap and Others Don’t”. I have spent the last 8 years of my life working with companies, testing out the findings that Mr. Collins and his team of researchers wrote about in the book. I have found that First Who, Then What, is a viable and reliable principle. But how do you implement it? I call it “selection”.

To hire the RIGHT people you must first put yourself in the position of being selective. This means using specific criteria both in how you obtain great people and how you determine if they are the RIGHT people. It is this part of the "selection value stream" that I want to communicate in this post. Selection is the outcome of having two to three qualified candidates from which to choose, when making a hiring decision. In short, your goal is that you want to have a minimum of two candidates EITHER one of which you would hire. Then, you “select” the best one.
We have developed, and teach a set of comprehensive selection criteria that we have found set a new standard for selecting the RIGHT people.
Competence
Character
Chemistry.
Lets look at each one.
Each criterion has a key question that is a point of discussion in the hiring process for your selection group.
Competence- Key Question- Can he\she do the job?
The Competence question is key and in most companies it is the PRIMARY question. This is a huge mistake. All three of these criteria are important, and none should be overlooked. While competence is at the core it is very rarely the cause of job-loss. As my friend Gary Brattland, President of The Paradigm Group, says: “we hire people for what they know, but we terminate them for who they are.”
Competence should be mostly about the content of the person’s experience. I say content because therein lies the secret. What have the accomplished with what they know? Have they demonstrated the skills of the jobs. Asking questions in a behavioral style- outcome-based, content-based- , that seek specific examples of what the person has actually done or accomplished will be KEY. (This questioning process is an art, not a technique.)
Character- Key Question- Does the person think like us?
Character is about your organizations core values and is the WHO part of hiring. Collins says the great companies seek great people who align with the core purpose and core values of the company. This is critical but assessing it in the interview is not done well in most organizations. if at all. First you have to really know your real values and why your organization really exists. (I guess I beat that horse beyond rocognition. :=) ) This is the crux of the Character question. Do they think like you? You must identify your core values in behavioral terms and then ask behavioral questions that assess what YOU think is important, YOUR values. Everybody’s values are expressed in ways that are meaningful to THEM. When it comes to selecting the right people “thinking like us” means that the right people stand for and live the same beliefs, principles and morals that you do within the work context. If you want empowered people, you have to trust them eventually, and if you know they truly share your values, trust becomes easier. The core values drive your culture and decision-making, they point to what it is important dynamically. If they are real and you can articulate them well, you have a great chance of hiring the right people.
Chemistry- Key Question- Do I want to work with this person?
Chemistry is about rapport, amiability, personality. Many people hire based on chemistry alone. Interviewer: “I really like this guy.” Questioner: “What do you like about him?” Interviewer: “We really hit it off.” Questioner: “What was it about him you liked?” Interviewer: "Everything, we just really hit it off. He’s from a town near where I grew up. It turns out we played each other in state football finals”. Chemistry is your enemy if you don’t also detect alignment with your core purpose and values, and a high degree of competence because it can easily become a “false positive”. There are no techniques for uncovering chemistry except this: you want to put your applicants in such a comfortable state, that they reveal who they really are, as opposed to the facade they want you to see. And, would you want to spend 8 hours a day, locked in a room with this person?

There is a whole lot more to the HOW of these three criteria. The “Selection Value Stream” utilizes these criteria to generate candidates that "fit". When you “select” people based on these three criteria you produce a new employment standard, one of competence, character and chemistry. (Copyright 2008, HR Department, LLC)
Jeff Pelletier 651-492-8540
jeff@becominggreat.com

Distinctions between a Manager and Leader

• Distinctions between a Manager and Leader
• Which way do you lean?
• The contrast below is quite specific. Notice that the Manager is involved more in the result while the Leader is more concerned with the destination. All Leaders must be competent managers, because in the short term, they need to “get things done”. Of course the amount of time a Leader “manages” can be diminished by selecting the RIGHT people and it should be so. Leaders are, after all, are focused on the Destination. Management, at its core is an interventionary activity. He\she inserts his\herself into the work flow and into the decision-making of those in the organization. The Manager is setting goals, observing work, measuring outcomes, and providing feedback, to keep people on track so that the work gets done. This is a very important function in any productive organization. But even here, to the degree that the RIGHT people are in place and properly informed, management intervention is less necessary. But take note as to the work Guru- Warren Bennis and his colleague Joan Goldsmith have provided here. See how you measure up.

• The Manager	The Leader
  Administers	Innovates
  Is a Copy	Is an Original
  Maintains and enforces	Develops
  Accepts Reality	Investigates it
  Focuses on Systems and Structure	Focuses on People
  Controls Outcomes	Develops Trust
  Has a Short Range View	Looks at the Long Term
  Asks How and When	Asks What and Why
  Looks at the Bottom Line	Looks at the Horizon
  Imitates	Creates
  Accepts the Status Quo	Challenges it
  Is a Good Soldier	Is their own person
  Does things right	Does Right things
  Gets the work done	Gets to the Destination
  .

• Taken from “Learning to Lead” by Warren Bennis and Joan Goldsmith
• jeff@becominggreat.com

Becoming Great! One BIG Thing

In the book, Good To Great, Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't, by Jim Collins, the word Hedgehog is used to describe the type of animal a company or organization should model itself after. The hedgehog you may recall focuses on ONE BIG thing. The analogy being that an organization should determine what it can be the "best in the world" at and not be like a fox and try to be the best in the world at everything or at lots of things.

ANOTHER USE FOR THIS IDEA

I suggest that each employee, everyone who works at your company or organization, should have a similar focus regarding their job, and that their job should have a primary outcome, a main accomplishment, what I call it's PURPOSE. If every job's purpose is it's primary outcome, and if that primary outcome aligns with the organization's primary purpose, or its reason for existing, then you begin to see the opportunity for congruity and synergy. The point is that, as an organization, you want to construct an architecture that provides "linkeage" and "flow". Let's call it the central nervous system of the organization. If everything is aligned and connected the organism is healthy because the lines of communication are open and functioning and each part has its work to do in achieving it's primary work.

An Example

I worked with an awards company called Crystal D http://www.crystal-d.com/, and the primary purpose there is to "Turn Emotions into Memories". That is the focus of every employee, from design to fulfillment. They want the recipient of one of their awards to look at the award, years down the road, and "relive" the accomplishment that got them that award.

Each job in that company is aligned to that purpose. Each job has a primary outcome which is the reason their job exists. Crystal D's growth rate and outcomes appear to support the validity of this idea.

Jeff Pelletier
651-492-8540
jeff@becominggreat.com

The Right People and Core Ideology

Hi,

Welcome to the Better way to operate your business!

Here is today’s post:

It is truly amazing just how vital, life-giving, as the word itself implies, the RIGHT people are. In the Book Good to Great, by Jim Collins he devotes and entire chapter, in fact the FIRST chapter to the idea of “first who, then what”. So how do you find the right people? Well the first thing I do with my clients is identify what Collins calls the Core Ideology of the organization, what I call culture. The Culture is defined by two primary components: The Core Purpose and The Core Values. I was having coffee the other day with man who writes business plans for a living. He is absolutely passionate about doing this and he finds the most detail oriented, the more complex business plans the most…..fun. Fun? Yes I agree he’s weird, but not really. He has found a core ingredient to a joyful career: do something you enjoy that you have passion about. This person was in commercial banking for 10 years and hated it, but he loves helping promising companies get the financing they need.

I could tell from listening to him for 30 minutes non-stop that he did it because he really enjoyed empowering promising companies with the financing they need to go forward. So I asked him, “Why does your company exist?” His answer was predictable- “to write business plans.” He had confused his means with his purpose. So I asked again, “ how is the world different because of what you do?” He looked at me, wanting to know the answer, but not being able to articulate what he “knew” intuitively.

The answer to that question and others, over time, will help you identify your company’s CORE PURPOSE. The Walt Disney Company’s core purpose is “to make people happy.” One look at the activity of 95% of their brands and products and you go “of course!”. So you see it doesn’t need to be complex, and in fact should NOT be. IT should be a plain, powerful statement, that resonates with those who align with it.

Knowing your company’s core purpose is the first step in finding the RIGHT people to work for you. The RIGHT people will align with that purpose, and want to advance it. The second step is to define and substantiate your core values as they really are. These already exist. They are NOT pie in the sky ideals, they are…..what they are. The key is to identify them and quantify them, which could take a few weeks or months. But once this Core Ideology, or Culture has been honestly defined, you are well on your way.

Jeff Pelletier

www.becominggreat.com

651-492-8540 Ph

Holding Fast and Moving On

Preserving the Core and Stimulating Progress

The above idea is a big picture concept in the book "Good to Great" Why some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't- by Jim Collins. In the book Mr Collins talks about how important it is that the Core Ideology which he defines as the Core Purpose and Values, remains constant, and protected. Since the Values are the components of culture, and your culture is the sum of your values, as practiced, it is vital that you preserve them. In the book there is a great story of the workers at Nucor Steel physically removing a pro-union organizer from the premises. THAT is preserving the core, and values in action. I posted about the Amish communities response to the mass shooting in Pennsylvania. The point of the concept is that there are some things that shouldn't change, Values and Purpose being primary. These two are the foundation of your organization, and if the foundation isn't firm, it is very difficult to build something strong and enduring. I've written about Purpose and Values in the big picture in other posts. Stimulating Progress is all about the idea that products, processes, strategies, and tactics should be constantly adapting and changing even though the core remains the same. It is a valuable paradox.

This post is about a micro-view of this idea in job descriptions. Every job should have a core purpose, which is its primary responsibility or outcome. This core purpose should never change and if this purpose ever ceases to exist, or becomes unecessary, the job should be eliminated. I have written about my belief that job descriptions should be Outcome Based. The reason for that is that in a healthy organization the WHAT of a job is always changing because of the constant improvement imperative. How we do a job is in constant evolution. So if you write your job descriptions based on what you want to accomplish , the Outcomes, you can give people a sense of their responsibility to the organization and some sense of consistency regarding your expectation of their performance, while at the same time encouraging them to be in a state of constant improvement about how they do their job, or better said, how they "fulfill their responsibility."

Give it some thought. If you'd some help getting there:

jeff@becominggreat.com

651-492-8540

Jeff Pelletier.

http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=17106648&trk=tab_pro

Leading the Transformation

You just don't hear of very many examples of companies and organizations making the "leap" as Collins calls it, from "Good to Great". That's because its very difficult to do. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Greatness is measured in decades. People or organizations can a have a great year or even a great few years, but you can't say something is great unless it lasts for a decade or more. Take Johnny Miller, the professional golfer. He had a year that was amazing, a year he is still widely praised for; in 1974 he won 8 times. He had a stretch of 15 of his 25 wins in three years, during which he won two Majors. But when you look at Jack Nicklaus or Tiger woods you see greatness. Tiger in the last 10 years has won 61 PGA Events and 13 Majors. Plus he has won 21 times in various invitationals around the world. THIS is greatness, and Tiger is only 31 years old, the age at which most golfers enter their PRIME.

In my experience, the main reason for this lack of greatness isn't because its not possible, not at all. I see that the main reason greatness is not achieved is because it is not sought. In short, good enough is, well, good enough for most people. The main difference between those who achieve greatness and those who don't is this: The great leaders will NOT compromise. And they are willing to pay the price; they are tenacious, yet at the same time it's NOT about them. The great organizations don't have a unique product, but they have uniqueness in their approach. They are defined. They have CLARITY. The great organizations work towards something and for something that is well beyond money, or busy-ness, and everyone who works there "gets it".

And as I have said before, the leaders of the transformation don't give a whit who gets the credit, and they realize that leadership done well, over time, diminishes, that is, becomes less necessary.

The components:

A well defined Purpose and Clear Values (purpose defines value proposition)

The RIGHT people- who align with the above.

Specific Expectations and Outcomes - Goals, Standards, Best Practices.

Ever Improving Processes

A Crystal Clear Vision- which describes a detailed future state- out of a core competence, a passion, and an easily understood financial ratio.

If you're ready, let's begin. jeff@becominggreat.com
651-492-8540

http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=17106648&trk=tab_pro

More on Leadership Levels

Level 5 leadership is the tip of the spear in the transformation from Good to Great. To understand it well we must revisit what Great is, because Greatness is the measurement by which we judge the effectiveness of Level 5. Greatness as the Collins team defined it, is an organization that achieves sustained peak performance (15 or more years, call it a “generation”) against the overall “market”, not just its niche’. (So for a non-profit that would be against all other non-profits, as opposed to say all other foundations, or all other charitable Trusts etc.)

There is within the Collins study, a conclusion about Level 5 that is missing from the book, or perhaps it is not well articulated if it is there. (It certainly didn’t jump out at me.)

Level 5 leadership is the “agent” of ALL THE OTHER ASPECTS OF THE GOOD TO GREAT model.

The two distinguishing components of Level 5 leadership are: Humility and Strong Professional Will. The steadfast desire to achieve, and a complete lack of concern for “who gets the credit”, are the key traits. This is the character of a Level 5 leader, and it is not negotiable if what Collins says is true. But let’s look at the rest of the package. The WORK of Level 5.

Purpose and Values: The purpose of the organization and it’s values ARE the purpose and values of the Level 5 Leader. Study a level 5 and you will see this fact plainly. They didn’t put their key people in a room and collectively say, “ok, now what are our values?” and sing “We Are The World”. The values and purpose (or Core Ideology as Collins puts it) begins with the level 5 leader. (Please don’t confuse purpose with VISION, which the group DOES determine together.) Once the Leader has clearly defined his purpose and those morals, beliefs, principles, called Values, upon which he\she will operate the company, the next response is to select people who “align” with that Core Ideology. Which brings us to:

FIRST WHO, THEN WHAT.

What the Level 5 leaders did in the GTG companies was to evaluate their current executive team to check for FIT. Those who did not FIT, were transitioned out, soon. The next thing they did was to find and secure the people who fit and who aligned with the purpose and values of the company. (Do you see how this practice make the values REAL?) To the degree you acquire executives, who align with your purpose and values, and who are also competent (not necessarily “industry experts”) you begin IMMEDIATELY to transform the culture.

There needs to be an INTENTIONAL discussion about what exactly “alignment” means. You hear a lot about training programs meant to cause alignment and these programs are a waste of money by and large. If people don’t intrinsically align with you, you can’t change them, and why would want to?

This is where “The Selection Process” is so critical and why interviewing skills should be a core management competence.

CONFRONT THE BRUTAL FACTS- I know a leader who is struggling to achieve greatness but is steadfast in retaining certain employees who are loyal to him personally, who lack the traits to succeed. This person is not willing to face the brutal fact that he is letting their loyalty to him, get in the way of his objectivity in assessing them as leaders in his company. He is trying hard to “convert” them, without success, so far. What a Level 5 leader does is face this reality, and embrace it, knowing that the RIGHT people are the best asset to any organization.

THE HEDGEHOG CONCEPT- A Level 5 leader leads people in the determination of vision, in fact he\she knows what Ken Blanchard has always said, “all of us is smarter than any one of us.” If you have a group of aligned executives who share your values but have the diversity of necessary disciplines they need for their area of expertise, you have assembled a group that will be capable of producing a synergy that is quite powerful and sustaining. Identifying passion will not be difficult as it will be associated with purpose. Determining what you can be the best in the world at will come out of much discussion and reflection. Measuring success economically will evolve over time, so long as the Leader exercises his\her will to demand that the group find it. The Humility of Level 5 engenders a “safe” environment for what Collins calls “heated debate”. The “moderator” skills needed to do this well, are both absolutely necessary and can be learned. (Ask me how.) This kind of executive level participation which is steeped in the Purpose and Values and absent of “personal agenda and politics”, is a Petrie Dish of greatness. This is why many of the executives in the Collins study said of their jobs: “it was my dream job.” The process of absolute clarity of vision improves as the Hedgehog Concept becomes seated within the group.

A CULTURE OF DISCIPLINE- Living the purpose and values is what this is about at the core. The biggest difference between a Level 5 and a “Genius with the Thousand Assistants” (level 4), is that the Level 5 recognizes the nobility involved in having a group of talented people who are committed to something greater than themselves and who share his\her humility. The level 4 leader IS the driving force behind the discipline that is created, which is why when he\she leaves, so do results. But the Level 5 Leader has committed to something greater than him\herself, and has gathered “likeminded” people around him\her so that disciplined people, disciplined thought, disciplined action are all natural extensions, in short, discipline HAPPENS.

FLY WHEEL- Like-minded people beget likeminded people if they know the skills in selecting and hiring. Once a committed group of people who align with purpose and values have identified their Hedgehog Concept and agreed on the Big Hairy Audacious Goal, a process of transformation has begun within the organization. The “wheels are turning”. When the Walgreen team made it a goal to be out of the restaurant business (they had 500) within five years, it was Cork Walgreen who reminded them 6 months later that they now had four and half years to get out of the restaurant business. This “:strong-will” was a factor in holding the group accountable for its decision. It is a group’s nature to avoid its task. They stand on the water’s edge and don’t want to get all the way wet. But once the decision has been made to get in the water, then there is only “getting in” left to do. Once the swimmers have swum beyond half way, the momentum starts to build to get to the destination. This momentum is the Flywheel. It isn’t engaged by force as a Level 4 would.

To summarize, the WORK of Level 5 is where the transformation occurs. The traits are Humility and Strong professional will, but the components of developing the Culture of Excellence that greatness requires is the WORK.

Jeff Pelletier

jeff@becominggreat.com

The Selection Process

Be proactive in your hiring.

The more proactive you are, the more you can influence the outcome of your hiring decisions. You’ll notice I call this post “the selection process”. This is on purpose. The difference between selection and hiring is huge. Selection is all about picking the BEST person from among 2-4 qualified people. Hiring is the process of filling a spot with the person who most closely meets the criteria you're looking for. What’s the difference? Plenty. Most employers hire. They interview until they find someone who appears to meet their criteria, and they make that person an offer. Those employers who “select”, have put themselves in the enviable position of choosing from among 2-4 any of which are qualified for the position. They have a very well written OUTCOME based job description, which describes the outcomes, (not the tasks) experience, knowledge and skill, physical attributes and environmental aspect of the job. The job has a clear “purpose” that serves the company’s greater purpose, which is also clear. The job description includes the companies CORE COMPETENCIES, which are extruded from the actual values of the company.

The job is posted on-line or on targeted job boards NOT in the newspaper or is referred to top employees. The posting is in response to predetermined “triggers” that predict the need to fill a position. Applicants are sent a job application, which clearly measures the job requirements, like work availability, salary history, and obtains contact information from previous employers and other references, (and much more.)

The person screening applicants has been trained to look for “fit”, and sends every interested person an application and asks them to visit the company’s web site, incase they receive a phone interview after a review of their application. (Not just their resume’. More on this in the future.) The Screener, "selects" people with whom to conduct a phone interview based on their application and resume' review. Those who survive the 5-7 minute screening interview are invited for a face to face.

If you do all this well, you have laid the foundation to SELECT. If you don’t you are “stuck” hiring.

If you would like to implement a system like this, let me know. becominggreat@comcast.net

Jeff Pelletier

www.becominggreat.com

www.fasterbettercheaper.blogspot.com

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/88b/820

651-492-8540 Ph

651-389-0504 FX

The Key Components of the Transformation Process

Organization Component	Best Practices
Purpose	Purpose helps determine and define the “Value Proposition” This is among the preserve the core components of “Good to Great”- Question- Why does this organization exist? How would the world be worse off if it DIDN’T exist? How is the world better BECAUSE it exists?
Values- (what we truly believe)	The other half of the CORE. As practiced, they ARE the culture of the company- Should align with and support the PURPOSE, They are beliefs, bedrock principles, morals, of the organization and should be those of the Primary Shareholders-Stakeholders. Methods- Cultural Assessment, Observation, Interviews
The RIGHT people	Find and retain the CORE people and also those in key positions, who align with PURPOSE, practice the Values, and want to work for YOUR company or organization. Targeted recruiting, clarity, (see specific expectations.)
Specific Expectations	Jobs that fulfill the company’s purpose- ( a job’s purpose should justify its existence.) Outcome based job descriptions- that serve the purpose and accomplish company goals. Individual Performance Outcomes/Goals Department Outcomes/Goals Organizational Outcomes/Goals Goals are subordinated to company goals, vision and value proposition, if one exists.
Systems and Processes that continuously improve, consolidate, reduce, redact, renew.	Business Support System Process Engineering, Production Systems Process Engineering, Sales Process Engineering, Marketing Process Engineering, Recruiting Systems, People Improvement Systems. Six Sigma. Toyota System.
VISION	A crystal clear picture of the end state of your company or organization. May be formed inductively or deductively. Inductive Visions occur as we build the company and is the SUM of what we learn as we build. (Build the plane as we fly it, and then determine our destination.) Many business owners are in this place and inductive vision is ok too. Deductive Vision (for true visionaries) is clearly seen at the beginning of the process and is the end point we build towards. (A Blue Print) But many true Visionaries struggle with the patience and tactics to fulfill their vision. In either case CLARITY is king.
Preserve the Core Stimulate Progress	The most difficult piece- constant improvement is a key to BEST PRACTICES at every level, so we never arrive. Constant Curiosity, Continuous Questioning, while we defend the CORE aggressively.

There is much to actually accomplishing transformation, but when you look at it as a process and then over time, a continuous process you can build a great organization. It may not become big, but it can become and remain, great.

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Becoming Great- "Value Added"

• There is much talk in business circles about "adding value". There are basically two ways of looking at this idea of Adding Value. In the one hand, is the big picture, marketing, advertising view of enticing the customer to buy, to package and price and structure your product and services in a way that the customer perceives as valuable.
• On the other hand is the internal, operational view that drives cash flow and earnings.

While both are important let's look at the second one.

Adding value, operationally means this: doing things operationally, that increase revenue, or improve efficiency. It is vital that you define this term because it is used a lot nowadays. I have expanded it to include the cost side as well as the revenue side. I have done this so that your office\production\support team will see that they have a huge responsibility and an opportunity to "add value". Being clear about this definition gives it power, and authority. As I have written in other postings clarity is a key to understanding.

So when a marketing person or sales person has an idea, ask them, "How will this add value?

And when you observe support staff or production folks doing something in the "same old way", ask them the question, "how does the way you do that add value"?

The power, the influence,lies within the question. Asking it repeatedly , and often will create in people the "dissonance" (inner conflict) to answer it. As you ask the question you will find more and more that people will have answers.

Then, after that, after you get them thinking, you can work on "realizing" the value you identify. Making it real.

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becominggreat@comcast.net

651-492-8540

More on the Management Series

The Management Series©

The “Management Series©” is a great tool for business owners and executives to ensure that their manages have the knowledge, skill and consistency that will ensure their business’ success.

When you contract with us to conduct The Management Series© training sessions you are not just providing your team with information, you are also “forming” your management team. During the course of the SERIES, your management team will interact as they “practice” the skills they learn in the “practicum” (where we actually DO what we teach), and in their interactions between sessions.

This process, though labor intensive for the facilitator gives YOU and your team the highest ROI, Return on the Individual.

Call today to begin the process of developing you managers. 651-492-8540.
transformation@becominggreat.com

Introducing!! The Management Series !! Click here to find out how your organization can STOP the management MUDA (waste).

Jeffrey Pelletier
President
Becoming Great
http://www.linkedin.com/profile?viewProfile=&key=17106648&trk=tab_pro

Momentum- a key to Becoming Great

This idea of the flywheel in the Good To Great Companies is something to really grasp. Many charismatic, dynamic "Leaders" can make a big show about a great idea. They give a great speech, announcing that "from now on"...... thus and so will be the case. Then, a month later, everybody, including the Boss has forgotten it.

This, "dropping the ball", works for a while with people, and they'll forgive you, but after about the third or fourth time with no follow-through, they just give you a show of enthusiasm, then, wait you out.

The bigger the change, the longer it takes. That's the rule of thumb. Big changes involve big companies and lots of people. And those big changes take BIG time.

But even in an organization of ONE, it takes time.

In each of us there are two conflicting forces at work: The need and desire to grow and improve, and the need for things to stay the same.

This need for things to stay the same, wins, in most people. Homostasis is my word for it and it means "same state or condition". This is the need that interrogators exploit when they want to get people to talk. They observe the routine of the prisoner and they "get them out of their comfort zone". They wake them up at odd hours, give them more or less to eat. Find out what colors they DON'T like and give them things in those colors. They try to take away this "comfort". This need for homo-stasis keeps us SANE. We buy the same brand of soap, cars, travel the same route to work, eat the same foods, and changing these is hard because we need things we can rely on in our lives, some more than others, but we all need consistency.

The next time you find yourself on the freeway in a traffic jam, take a look around. Jever notice how people will just sit in traffic??? About 5% get off the road and start looking for a new route. 95% just sit there!!

This is where the flywheel comes in. If you want to make a change, you have to make the commitment that is necessary to cause it. You have to HOLD FAST to the new way, for about 21 repetitions in a row, before the change will take hold. THAT is what the Flywheel is all about. Because once you rotate a flywheel enough times eventually it gains momentum. Personal change and growth happens the same way.

If you want to change permanently, commit to a mimimum of 21 consecutive repetitions of the new way, and the the momentum will build and the change will "take hold". Once it does, it will become difficult to change. THAT is how you know you are successful.

Now consider 50, 100, 1000 people all going through the same process.

transformation@becominggreat.com or 651-492-8540

Becoming Great- A leadership secret not many leaders understand

Becoming Great- Leadership

I used to say that "I'm working myself out of a job" as a leader and people would cock their heads and wonder what I was talking about. I mean I didn't really want to lose my job. That's not what it was about. It was about this:

Effective leaders become less and less necessary, over time.




If you do your job as a leader, and you equip, outfit, empower, teach, train, guide the people for whom you are responsible, they will increase in influence and you will naturally decrease. Consider leading someone up a mountain. You know the way, or you learn the way and lead them to the top successfully.

What happens, if a month later you try to take that same person up the same mountain. If they learned what you taught them the first time up and you try a repeat of the same climb, will that person be more likely or less likely to be enthusiastic about following you?

In fact, to the degree you selected the right person to lead up the mountain, they will both require, and desire less and less of your participation. They will NOT want to be led, again, not to do the same thing anyway.

Some people in leadership positions, purposely hire people who are "dependent" on them as "managers". And sometimes these leaders do this because they are afraid to hire people who are really really great or have the potential to be so. Why are they afraid? A Million reasons. But these leaders are missing out on their own opportunity to be great.

If you focus your efforts on finding and truly equipping the RIGHT people, so that you become less and less necessary over time, you will find that what really is happening is that by empowering these people, you are empowering yourself. The synergy you will create with the RIGHT people will FAR FAR surpass anything you could even dream or imagine is possble. How great is that??!!

E-mail me: transformation@becominggreat.com or call 651-492-8540

Becoming Great- More on Leadership

Becoming Great- Leadership

"Leading wouldn't be so difficult if it weren't for all these people!!!"-- Jeffrey Pelletier

This post is short and to the point:

If your employee's pay, employment, benefits, promotion, training etc weren't within your control,
would they follow you?

If the answer is yes, you are a PURE leader. If not, you've got some work to do.

I can help. transformation@becominggreat.com or 651-492-8540

Becoming Great- TheTransformation of Leadership

Saddam Hussein, like Hitler, made the trains run on time. The command and control leadership/management style that was used to the extreme by these two guys, was effective. It got the job done.

In business and in organizations this style was inherited from the military where it finds it's orgin. It was effective during a time when market competition was nonexistent, JOB competition was huge so you were lucky to have the job you had, and economic times were very very tough. People, under this model, are looked upon as “tools”, a means, by which work is done, an “employee , that which is employed or “used”.

And it worked.

There is a moral argument against this type of view, which rightly ignited the labor movement, which initially was a moral crusade. (Like many crusades however it’s day is done, the battle has been won, here, yet many crusaders continue to fight. Of course there are many other countries where this battle needs to be fought.) That moral argument is based on the dignity of all human beings. Dignity is by definition, is “inherent value or worth”. People have dignity, their lives are valuable simply because they exist. Something of value is worthy of respect and this is the missing ingredient in many of those who practice command and control leadership.

“Command and Control” leadership/ management does still have a place. Any situation that is critical, (crisis) where impending danger exists, where lives are threatened, where time is absolutely short, emergencies, all of these situations justify a command and control style. (Visit a Trauma Center and you will observe Command and Control.) But, and it is a big BUT, respect and dignity should never ever be suspended even though the situation calls for command and control. Indeed, the critical nature of the situation may cause us to “take charge” out of a concern for the welfare of people. Hurricane Katrina is a perfect example of this. At the local and state level, decisiveness was severely lacking when it was most important to get people out of New Orleans and many died as a result of a lack of will to exercise command and control leadership.

A Level 5 leader is someone who has strong professional will. A better description is “fierce revolve”. Fierce Resolve as we have said in other posts, is a “stick-to-it-tiveness” an uncompromising commitment to succeed. The other ingredient is humility, which by definition values the needs of OTHERS above our selves. It almost sounds impossible.

A humble person is eager for others to succeed, in fact, knows that he/she cannot “suck the oxygen out of the room” which is what charismatic leaders do, because then there would be no air left for anybody else. Humble leaders, believe what Mark Twain said, “ you can get a lot (more) done, if you don’t care who gets the credit.”

They also know this: you "rent" (for hire) a person's hands and back, but they have to GIVE you their head and their hearts. This is why many command and control leaders think they have "idiots" working for them. Because all they get from their people is hands and their backs, because their people "check the rest at the door."

transformation@becominggreat.com or 651-492-8540

Becoming Great- The Essentials

Essentials

Based on my knowledge and experience, for your company or organization to become great you must press in to every situation and get to what I call the “essentials”.

Essentials are those ideas or that understanding that make up the fabric or essence of what you do. This is why it is so important that your core values and your company’s purpose be true. If you don’t go through the hard work to determining what your purpose and values really ARE, you risk being called hypocritical, “do what I say not as I do.” There is no quicker way to waste your time and energy. You need a valid process, and a facilitator who understands and will not “let you off the hook” until to get to this core.

One example of essentials is in problem solving. Here is a way of getting to the root cause of a problem called "The Five Whys. It can go like this:

Problem Statement: You are on your way home from work and your car stops in the middle of the road.
1. Why did your car stop?
- Because it ran out of gas.
2. Why did it run out of gas?
- Because I didn't buy any gas on my way to work.
3. Why didn't you buy any gas this morning?
- Because I didn't have any money.
4. Why didn't you have any money?
- Because I spent it on cigarettes.
5. Why did you spend your money on cigarettes?
- Because at the time I really wanted a cigarette and they had a two for one sale, and I thought I could make it on the gas I had so I bought the cigarettes instead of the gas.

A problem, by definition, is the difference between what you want to happen and what is actually happening (or happened). The difference in the above example is habit of smoking. It is the difference between having gas and not having gas. That habit, that addiction is the problem because it led to a wrong choice. The “difference” is the problem. Once you identify the problem there is the essential idea of getting to it’s root or cause. The 5 Why’s are a very good tool to accomplish this. Be sure to ask the questions with the intent of solving the problem, NOT in finding the guilty party. The 5 Why’s are really a technique that helps people to see the real value of getting to the root of the matter. If people are “grilled” or if they feel like you are “prosecuting” them they will not participate. The point is that if you do it focused on WHAT happened not on WHO”s wrong, you will eventually have the 2 Why’s or the 1 Why to get the root.

And, quite frankly if you focus on WHAT versus WHO you build TRUST as your people will realize that you just want to get to the root of the problem and solve it.

Of course NO technique works with the wrong people. Everything BEGINS with the RIGHT people in the RIGHT jobs.

jeff@becominggreat.com
651-492-8540

Becoming Great- TRUST

Let’s talk about trust.

You may be making an ok to very good living in your business right now. But as you also may know, a good living only lets you LIVE well, it doesn’t let you SLEEP well unless you have people in your organization whom you can TRUST. In a previous entry about empowerment I alluded to the importance of trust.

The two things that make the pillow soft, are a clear conscience, and the sense that you can trust the people who work for you. Trust is the key to any meaningful relationship, inside or outside or work. But there are many forms.

• There’s the trust of hiring- If you make a decision to hire a person, you are in effect saying, “I think I can trust this person”. And as we’ve said ad nauseam and will continue to say, you want to trust a person on two levels- competence and character. You want to know they can do the job, and you want to know that they will “represent the purpose and values of the company” (your purpose and values) in everything they do.

• There’s the trust of training- when you train or develop someone you are investing time and money. You do so trusting that what you invest will yield a return.

• There’s the trust of delegation- When you assign a project to someone or just ask them to carry out a request, you want to trust that they will DO IT as you’ve requested.

• There’s the trust of growth- when you promote someone you want to trust that they are ready for the job and that they will perform it.

There are others but you get the idea.

Now, trust is spelled R-I-S-K. Isn’t that right? Every time we empower someone we are entrusting them with something. We are saying we believe they can do it and will do what are asking of them.

You can hire Latkes and think for them and hand out “tasks” for them and you will achieve financial success, a good living, as many have. And if that is all you want, well done.

But if you are the recipient of a “vision” of something bigger than you can now comprehend doing, you will need to find a means to finding people that you can TRUST with the FUTURE.

People like Sam Walton, Walt Disney, Jack Welch, Cork Walgreen, etc all had vision and have created corporation with cultures that are taking their vision beyond each of them.

The Founding Fathers did the same for us- By creating a purpose- Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, and a set of Values (The Bill of Rights) and the incorporation of the Constitution, they have created an enduring greatness that outlives them as well.

So, if you want to sleep well, hire people, create systems, engender a Core Ideology that leads to trust, and if you do, what you create might just outlive you and become greater than you can see right now.

Jeffrey A Pelletier

jeff@becominggreat.com or 651-492-8540

Perpetuocity- A detour to Becoming Great

Does your business suffer from: Perpetuocity?

Perpetuocity symptoms: Doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result.

The Law of : Perpetuocity

IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID,

YOU ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT!

Call today to CURE once and for all!

Free initial consultation. becominggreat.comcast.net or 651-492-8540

Becoming Great- True Empowerment Anyone?

Empowerment vs Autonomy -----------------=A Job vs a Responsibility

Regarding the importance of organizational effectiveness and establishing an effective culture:

There is a great deal of confusion between empowerment and autonomy in the business management world. They are similar and in fact inclusive of one another to a degree. Empowerment is the idea of being equipped, outfitted and prepared to carry out a responsibility (more on this in a moment). Autonomy literally means “self (auto)-law-(nomos)”. Any adult in this country who is legally sane is an autonomous person. They function on their own and let’s thank God they do. But are they empowered? Maybe. A self- governing person can make independent decisions and have independent thought, but are they making correct decisions and taking correct actions or thinking relevant thoughts? Is an autonomous person thinking about the right things? Is he\she able to make decisions that have a particular impact say, on their finances or how to improve their work performance or solve a problem? Can they represent the desires and move the goals of the family, their career or their workplace FORWARD? Most people want to be "empowered" but what they really are saying is "let ME decide." As the Leader YOU must decide if they are ready.

On the one hand, an empowered person can work for you and not be autonomous because you don’t allow (don’t trust) that person to make independent decisions, because for whatever reason you don’t trust people . There is of course a price you pay for this. On the other hand, an autonomous person, who is not empowered can be allowed to make independent decisions that put you out of business because they aren’t “empowered” to succeed. (My guess is that if you’ve done the latter before, you have been “burned”, and this may have led to a hard time trusting people, period.)

This is where empowerment comes in. Empowerment as I mentioned earlier has to do with “readiness” and preparation to carry out a responsibility. Empowerment has do to with knowledge, skill, character and wisdom. Empowerment can be attained by training and development for sure. But that is not the end. When you hire the RIGHT people, you need to select them based on having the desired character, wisdom, skill, and aptitudes. They must receive your organization’s knowledge and skill development they need, and in the right way, thoroughly, so they can succeed at the fulfilling their job responsibilities. (This is called orientation or “on-boarding”. If you select people this way, and treat them in this way they will be by definition, empowered and autonomous and IN FACT, make the use of their skill and knowledge trustworthy. Because in the end, the right person is an empowered AND autonomous person who is capable and can be trusted to fulfill their responsibility to the organization.

BOTH are necessary-


These two distinctions are absolutely critical and the goal is to hire people with the desired values, character, wisdom, and knowledge, train them and THEN give them autonomy. If you can do both you will achieve an exponential success that is far beyond what you could accomplish otherwise. The effect is that people like this will EMPOWER YOU.

Now, as to the difference between a job and a responsibility:

In the book, Good to Great, the Author Jim Collins uses the job of Air Traffic Controller to contrast the difference between a job and a responsibility. What is the Air Traffic Controller’s job: to guide the planes in taking off and landing. What is his/her responsibility? To make sure they do so safely, to make sure they don’t crash as they do so. Can the Air Traffic Controller perform his job tasks and not take responsibility? Yes he/she can follow the procedures completely and a situation that is not “in the book” will come up one day and people will die. But because the Air Traffic Controllers take responsibility, they do every thing they can to make sure NO PLANES crash. It is their assumption of responsibility that makes them incredibly successful. Thank GOD!!!!

Empowered people to have responsibilities, NOT just jobs.

becominggreat@comcast.net or 651-492-8540

Synthesis-The New Paradigm

I've written previously about a book I highly recommend called "Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations" by David Warsh. In this book Mr. Warsh chronicles the development of economics as a way of thinking and expressing the way we humans relate in the buying, selling, investing realm of life. Please read this book for your own enjoyment and edification. By doing so you will gain the opportunity that comes from enlightenment. It will shift or firm your paradigm depending on where your thinking currently resides. That is, of course if you are seeking understanding. If you already know everything, fahgetaboutit, you're wasting your time.

I sum up the need the book's understanding points to in this way:

We must engage and pursue "synthesis" if we want to avoid our products and service from becoming "commodities". Synthesis is an old word but it has specific application in our corporate interactions.

syn‧the‧sis 
1. the combining of the constituent elements of separate material or abstract entities into a single or unified entity (opposed to analysis).

2. a complex whole formed by combining sub elements in a new way.

3. Chemistry. the forming or building of a more complex substance or compound from elements or simpler compounds.

4. Biology. modern synthesis.

5. Psychology, Psychiatry. the integration of traits, attitudes, and impulses to create a total personality.

Examples synthesis are:

Rayon, Nylon and Polyester- Cloth from OIL!!!!! How did they get an oil molecule to become a FABRIC? Synthesis.

Synthetic oil- Synthetic oil is oil consisting of chemical compounds which were not originally present in crude oil (petroleum) but were artificially made (synthesized) from other compounds. Synthetic oil could be made to be a substitute for petroleum or specially made to be a substitute for a lubricant oil such as conventional (or mineral) motor oil refined from petroleum. When synthetic oil is made as a substitute for lubricant refined from petroleum, it is generally to provide superior mechanical and chemical properties than that found in traditional mineral oils. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synthetic_oil


Synthesis does not require that we think outside the box, it requires that we destroy the box. Also and more importantly, it DOES require, in my view, the "governor" of a moral compass. Because when truly embraced, I believe the process of synthesis removes boundaries. While this is "freeing" it is also potentially dangerous. We must provide a moral, ethical, values-based context within which to synthesize.

Why?

• The Law of Unintended Consequences is always at work.
• Left to our own devices history has proven that we degrade our choices when we don't impose a set of principles "beyond" ourselves. (The Bill of Rights is a great example of these, as is our Constitution, as it gives our "freedom" a context).
• Look at what happened in Russia when the Communists fell as opposed to the "transition" occuring in China. Russis leaped, China is transitioning.

Synthesis includes innovation and creativity but it is more about outcomes than process and in my view more intentional.

Want to learn to synthesize?becominggreat@comcast.net or 651-492-8540

Values (morals, beliefs, principles) in Action

The following is from a Dallas Tx newspaper concerning what happened in the wake of the Amish Schoolhouse Shooting. It is evidence for the power contained within values that are real and not a "plaque on the wall".

From the Dallas Morning News…

Amish faith shines, even in tragic darknessIs there any place on earth that more bespeaks peace, restfulness and sanctuary from the demons of modern life than a one-room Amish schoolhouse? That fact is no doubt why so many of us felt so defiled – there is no more precise word – by news of the mass murders that took place there this week. If you're not safe in an Amish schoolhouse ... And yet, as unspeakable as those killings were, they were not the most shocking news to come out of Lancaster County this week. No, that would be the revelation that the Amish community, which buried five of its little girls this week, is collecting money to help the widow and children of Charles Carl Roberts IV, the man who executed their own children before taking his own life. A serene Amish midwife told NBC News on Tuesday that this is normal for them. It's what Jesus would have them do. "This is imitation of Christ at its most naked," journalist Tom Shachtman, who has chronicled Amish life, told The New York Times . "If anybody is going to turn the other cheek in our society, it's going to be the Amish. I don't want to denigrate anybody else who says they're imitating Christ, but the Amish walk the walk as much as they talk the talk." I don't know about you, but that kind of faith is beyond comprehension. I'm the kind of guy who will curse under my breath at the jerk who cuts me off in traffic on the way home from church. And look at those humble farmers, putting Christians like me to shame. It is not that the Amish are Anabaptist hobbits, living a pure pastoral life uncorrupted by the evils of modernity. So much of the coverage of the massacre has dwelled on the "innocence lost" aspect, but I doubt that the Amish would agree. They have their own sins and tragedies. Nobody who lives in a small town can live under the illusion that it is a haven from evil. To paraphrase gulag survivor Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the line between good and evil does not run along the boundaries of Lancaster County, but through every human heart. What sets hearts apart is how they deal with sins and tragedies. In his suicide note, Mr. Roberts said one reason he did what he did was out of anger at God for the death of his infant daughter in 1997. Wouldn't any parent wonder why God allowed that to happen? Mr. Roberts held onto his hatred, purifying it under pressure until it exploded in an act of infamy. That's one way to deal with anger. Another is the Amish way. If Mr. Roberts' rage at God over the death of his baby girl was in some sense understandable, how much more comprehensible would be the rage of those Amish mothers and fathers whose children perished by his hand? Had my child suffered and died that way, I cannot imagine what would have become of me, for all my pretenses of piety. And yet, the Amish do not rage. They do not return evil for evil. In fact, they embody peace and love beyond all human understanding. In our time, religion makes the front pages usually in the ghastliest ways. In the name of God, the faithful fly planes into buildings, blow themselves up to murder the innocent, burn down rival houses of worship, insult and condemn and cry out to heaven for vengeance. The wicked Rev. Fred Phelps and his crazy brood of fundamentalist vipers even planned to protest at the Amish children's funeral, until Dallas-based radio talker Mike Gallagher, bless him, gave them an hour of his program if they would only let those poor people bury their dead in peace. But sometimes, faith helps ordinary men and women do the humanly impossible: to forgive, to love, to heal and to redeem. It makes no sense. It is the most sensible thing in the world. The Amish have turned this occasion of spectacular evil into a bright witness to hope. Despite everything, a light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Rod Dreher is assistant editorial page editor. The views expressed here are his own. His e-mail address is rdreher@dallasnews.com

651-492-8540

Clues to First Who

First Who (again)

To help you better understand why it’s MORE important (not UNimportant) to focus on character (who) more than competence (what) let me give you a short missal to consider. Stop and think for a moment what actually DRIVES performance in your existing staff. Is it knowledge and skill or character?

If you consider your management time and how you spend it, you might find that a huge chunk of it is MUDA, (waste) or Non-Value Added time. (NVA is management time spent on activity OTHER than moving the organization forward.)

So then, consider the types of problems that actually drive non-performance and increase your NVA time:

An employee being late for work and meetings

A subordinate's lack of motivation

A lack of attention to detail

Listlessness in a person who works for you.

Not adapting well to change or resisting it.

Slowness to learn new methods

Argumentativeness- vs- legitiamate questioning

Low mental acuity

Gossip

Chronic illegitmate complaining

Emotional disengagement with the work and the company.

You get the idea. The VAST majority of performance related problems are the result of not having the RIGHT PERSON or not having them in the right seat (job).

Skill and knowledge, (competence) are POWERLESS if they are not accompanied by the WILL to use them and use them well. The COMMITMENT by a person to do their BEST is a character trait we would want in every employee.

SOOOOOOO, why then don’t we measure that in the selection process? Why don’t we interview to discover these extremely important character traits?

Why don’t we test for them? Doing so would be "Value Added", no?

I can help you. Call me. The first hour is always free. 651-492-8540

Jeffrey A Pelletier, President

http://www.agebetter.net

651-492-8540 Ph

651-389-0504 FX

Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations

“Knowledge and The Wealth of Nations”

How the new economy really works

By

Jeffrey Pelletier

I was reading the Wall Street Journal, which is a daily passion I have, and I noticed they had reviewed the above book, “Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations” which they recommended for those of us who want a “big-picture” understanding of economics without all the technical jargon.

Let me recommend this book highly. If you really want to understand economics in THIS world, buy it and read it from cover to cover. The author David Warsh is a journalist (for the WSJ) and seeks to inform, not impress the reader, with economic insight. He presents a wonderful journey (as a “journal-ist should), of the evolution of economic thought and shows you exactly how we got from Adam Smith in 1776, to where we are today, back at Adam Smith. You need to read the book to really appreciate what that means.

I will say this about the book. Economic thought has transmuted in the last 100 years. At the beginning of the last century we looked at three basic ingredients to the economic equation:

• Land
• Capital
• Labor.

And, we always looked at a “diminishing pie” that is, diminishing returns, we’ve thought that markets are limited and that what can be accomplished economically is also limited by that fact. As you may know, if that’s what you believe, it is of course the “truth”.

In the book, the author points out that people who “get” the new economy understand that the three basic ingredients are:

• People
• Ideas (knowledge and the technology)
• Things

And, that we really live in an era of “ever increasing returns”. Knowledge and its application (THAT’s the key), are what drive ever increasing returns.

I am committed to helping you to create an organization that seeks ever increasing returns. It begins with the RIGHT people in the RIGHT jobs, and then the creation of a process of learning and integration of that knowledge to the TASK at hand. This is not only lean but extremely PROFITABLE.

How do I know? Because I’ve been managing this way for 20 years.

Jeff Pelletier, Principal

651-492-8540

http://www.agebetter.net

651-389-0504 FX

Change and Momentum

In the book, Good to Great-Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, by Jim Collins, one of the characteristics of the 11 Great companies was that they all had what Collins called the “Flywheel Effect”. The flywheel as we all know is something that gains momentum as it is put in motion and after a certain number of revolutions begins to operate on it’s own. All internal combustion engines have this. The Starter Motor moves the Flywheel on the car’s engine and the battery provides spark so the fuel can ignite and the BRRRRMMM the engine runs. As long as there’s’ fuel and the engine’s parts continue to operate correctly, it runs as if on it’s own.

In the GTG companies the idea of transformation into an organization that achieved sustained superior performance over a 10-15 year period required that same effect.

Something, someone must be the starter motor, something must be an external dynamic to keep things in motion until the organizational engine “kicks-in” and begins to take on it’s own motion, it’s own momentum. The fuel that is required is a culture that is real- a purpose that is authentic and values that are articulated well, and most importantly are TRUE, not platitudes.

But what is the starter motor? What begins the initial turn of the engine to give the fly-wheel a chance?

The answer is YOU. You, and your leadership team. You must have a leadership team who align with the purpose and values of your company and together you must make a COMMITMENT to become Great. It is commitment that is the initial force or energy behind the process of becoming great.

But if you don’t have a culture, a clear purpose, and a set of REAL values, all the commitment in the world will not work. It is the REASON your company exists, and the principles, morals, and beliefs, it’s core beliefs, that are the FUEL and the SPARK of transformation.

And, and this is very important, the purpose and values together with your and your team’s commitment, must drive every single change you make as you go forward.

The first thing you should begin with is YOUR people, beginning with your management team. Make certain they are competent, or can learn what you need them to know. People must be “able”. But more importantly, make CERTAIN that everyone you hire, aligns as closely as possible to the Purpose of your organization and your Core Values and beliefs. Commitment is futile without these two alignments. As you will remember from previous posts, the RIGHT people in every position, are the most important aspect of your company.

All that said, every change you make, every person, position, process, etc., requires the force of the Flywheel to become permanent.

If you want aligned people to behave differently, you must take them through four stages of learning and you must be committed to all four of them:

Everyone begins new learning Unconsciously Incompetent- They don’t know what they don’t know.

As you begin the process of teaching, guiding mentoring and training them they become Consciously Incompetent- The know what they don’t know.
In this stage some may need your extra care, or support as you keep the focus on the change and your efforts on their learning.

As they learn and adapt, they become Consciously Competent- They know what they know- At this stage of learning and changing they are “performing as expected” but only when they are conscious of it and only when they think of what to do, or when you are watching. This is the stage where most Leaders let down their guard and make the false assumption that the change is “done”. Not on your life!!

In order for the change or learning to become permanent, the learner must do it right enough times so that it becomes what some call “second nature”. Brushing our teeth or not wetting our pants are examples in parenting children. As parents we must take our children through enough times so that NOT brushing their teeth becomes “weird” or abnormal. This stage is called “Unconscious Competence” and it is when the FLYWHEEL kicks in.

At this stage, the change or the new way is permanent. Don’t forget that YOU and your commitment is what makes it happen. The process of accomplishing this transformation is a whole learning process for you and your management team which includes how to train and how to manage people for success. Call me to begin the process.

Jeff Pelletier, Principal
HR Department, LLC
http://www.becominggreat.com/ Ph 651-492-8540

Real Time Empowerment

Real Time Empowerment


Empowerment comes from the Greek word endunamis. En means in, with, by, and dunamis means ability, power, fortitude, sustainability, so a raw translation would be "with or by power or ability". People who are empowered have two kinds of ability or power:

Competence- The person has the skill, talent, ability, and know-how (experience) to do the job.
Character- They align with the Values and Purpose of the organization for which they work- so they represent YOUR interests.
Chemistry- Rapport, how well you "get along with" someone.


Jack Welch, in his book "Winning", says that there are four kinds of managers. Those who don’t perform well but align well (have the character contained) with the organization’s Purpose and Values, those who perform well but who don’t align with the Purpose and Values, those who don’t perform well and don’t align with the Purpose and Values and those who perform well and align with the Purpose and Values.

He says that the RIGHT managers are the last group, that is, the managers who perform well (get results) and align. The ones who don’t do either one are obviously NOT the right managers. The ones who don’t perform well but align, he says should get some mentoring and training, and the last group, those who don’t align but who perform well, are THE most difficult people to let go, and the most dangerous to your culture. We all have seen people who could produce but who just didn't "fit". They are disruptions culturally but we "cut them some slack" because they produce.

But Mr Welch asserts that NOT changing these managers who perform well (financially) but buck the culture, is the most tempting thing to do. Because these people get results. This is a hidden danger. But the fact is that alignment with culture, (Values and Purpose) is more important. Mr. Welch’s belief about this fact is found in the idea that he recommends training, mentoring, and development for the manager who aligns but is not performing. As for the manager who doesn’t align with the purpose and values of the organization the question is and should be: Why would you even think of keeping someone who is NOT in alignment and does NOT get results? Seems like a no brainer, but most people know that there are these types of managers who continue to work in organizations. Some of them have tenure because they are loyal, some of them are just "liked" and some of them are just pitied. But NONE of them are effective.

If you want to make the Leap from good to great, you must understand this:

There IS NO substitute for the RIGHT people operating your business. And the RIGHT people are BOTH competent and align fully with your PURPOSE and VALUES which are the foundation of your organization. The Right People are placed on this foundation. Empowerment is all about trust, because at the end of the day we only trust those people who can do the job and whom we know have our's or the companies best interest at heart, as well as their own, and who make decisions with your values "in view".

If you would like to talk about how to accomplish this, call me. or mail to mailto:becominggreat@comcast.net

How do I do it?

The Components of the Transformation from Good to Great

There are two types of GTG transition processes that exist. Great companies are those who rise to a high level of performance that sets them apart from EVERYBODY else and then who SUSTAIN that high level of performance for an extended period of years. The companies highlighted in the book Good to Great, were good performers for a long time and then, made a leap and transitioned to a high level of performance and effectiveness, then sustained it.

The other group who makes the transition is the START-UP. For example it will be interesting to see if Amazon, Yahoo, and Google can attain high profitability and sustain it at a high level the way Microsoft, and Intel have. Making the transition from good to great is, in all cases a process, because nobody starts out great. Greatness takes time, it is a maturation process. Everything about the process requires a certain amount of ‘graduation” especially in start-ups. Jim Collins in the Book “Good to Great, Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t”, gives short shift to small companies' or start up transition, but he does express the view that these principles are just as valid for small or large companies. I agree.

Here’s the difference as I see it as one “in the trenches” every day. The closer you are to the "beginning" point of your company the easier it is to re-tool, to re-orient. At start-up you can write the blue-print. If you are a year or two in, there's time to start over. But if you’ve ”hit the wall” and need to go the “next level” as entrepreneurs are fond of saying, basically you are re-building the plane as you fly it. But in either case the components are the same, but the process is different. We want to get to three circles- The famous Hedgehog Concept--We want to identify the one BIG thing. So we continuously ask the three questions. What are you passionate about? What can you be the best in the world at (see how passion fuels this?) and how do measure economically, what is that simple core ratio that defines success financially. This is the outcome we want to arrive at, evdentually. It won't happen at a weekend retreat, it will happen with a commitment, about which you do NOT waiver. Here are the key components of the nuts and bolts process:

Core Ideology
The RIGHT People in the Right Jobs.
Specific Expectations - Short Term Goals, Well-Defined Outcomes,
Ever improving Systems and Processes
A Big Hairy Audacious Goal- will emerge as we work these other components
A vivid Vision of that goal realized. An END State, Key Strategies
Success


As you read these components you'll be tempted to see them sequentially. While there is a sequential "flow" it is also true that we will work on them out of sequence, because that's just how real life works. A lot will depend on you, and your capacity, your patience, your commitment to the process. I will ebb and flow and help you fit it together, helping you work on all the parts. The BIG PICTURE, the Vision will EMERGE.

For example, we will work on the Outcome-Based Job Descriptions needed to find the Right people, and we will focus on the business part that needs the most improvement first. As I said before, I will work really hard to help you determine what your values really are, and of course why your business exists. Purpose and Values, (core ideology) are essential and foundational.

At the same time we will work on process improvement in the business part with the best people. The whole time we will contemplate what you are truly passionate about, what you can be the best in the world at, and how to measure that. These three are your Hedgehog Concept, and where they intersect is the genesis of your Vision.Does it sound confusing? It isn't really if you know what you're doing, which I do. And don't forget your rebuilding the plane while you're flying it.

That's why you need a little help. Me.

Here's the big picture:

SUCCESS BHAG How we impact the world SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES Ever improving methods and execution SPECIFIC EXPECTATIONS Goals, Outcomes, Results, Targets THE RIGHT PEOPLE Possessing the skills and character needed for the job. PURPOSE AND VALUES Why we exist What we believe

Let’s look at the parts:

CORE IDEOLOGY

Core Ideology is all about WHY (Core Purpose) and helps you with passion, so we begin there. . It is your reason, your motivation, that gets you out of bed to work everyday, and it’s why you show up. If I listen to you talk and watch you work, after about 4 hours of cumulative conversation, and observation, I’ll hbegin to have an idea what you’re passionate about and why you show up every day. Once we've determined those two, we will articulate that as succinctly as possible. We will bring in people who know you whom you trust to make this happen.

Values take a little time. But the heated dialogue that will come and the stories you tell, will work together and we will define the “hills you’re willing to die on”, those non-negotiables that drive your decision-making. Core Purpose and Values are the FOUNDATION of your company. They are NOT marketing phrases they ARE the essence of who you ARE and they NEVER change.

Right People- Right Seats

In the book Jim Collins says, “People are not the most important aspect of your business, the RIGHT people are.” And just let me get this off my chest, “ THEY ARE NOT HUMAN CAPITAL!!!!!!! Whoever invented that label was having a very bad day and those who perpetuate it do people no good service whatsoever. The “right people” in the right jobs are the key. What we will do is construct a very specific targeted system of recruiting and interviewing that is customized based on your PURPOSE and VALUES and we TARGET our efforts to find and SELECT people who already agree and believe in them, and who live-out the same or closely aligned Core Ideology as you. Iwill also interview key people at all levels and produce an organization report. We need to get a grasp of the values of the current people and I will assess the EXISTING Culture. Our goal with people is true empowerment which comes when a person can DO the job and has the same work “paradigm” as you. Aligned people are those whom you can TRUST and when you have people you can TRUST, you are exponentially more effective and the synergy it creates is more than can be described here. So selecting the RIGHT people, like living out YOUR values is NOT negotiable.

Specific Expectations

I have created a process of creating Outcome Based Job Descriptions©. This instrument helps to "set the bar" for peformance. People are naturally teleological, goal oriented, WANTING to know what is expected of them. By creating these types job descriptions we begin the process of identifying the outcomes that are important in each job and we ALIGN the jobs with company’s goals. (I know, I know, it sound simple but it just isn't done in most organization.) Outcome Based Job Descriptions also give GREAT people the grace to be constantly improving themselves as to HOW they achieve these outcomes. By defining and measuring outcomes based on the Vision and the Core Ideology we give credibility to the Core Ideology and create “empowerment” opportunity. When we hire people who “fit” they are EXCITED by the job description. I have had people say they have found their DREAM job. One woman worked 10 hours at home the weekend before she started and showed up with immediate plans and action steps! Shouldn't this be NORMAL?

Systems and Processes

Is LEAN a program or imbedded in the culture? You might already be knee deep in Six Sigma or Lean Manufacturing, in which case we will focus on anything we can do to determine what needs to be done to focus those efforts for maximum return. (I’ll bet people play a HUGE part in that process.) If you have this system in place in production we'll see if other parts of the business can improve. Do you measure the sales process? Do processes produce desired outcomes? I know of companies knee-deep in Lean and not making a dime more. Is the essence of Lean part of your Core Ideology? Values?

Big Hairy Audacious Goal

When you identify what you are passionate about and what you can be the best in the world, (your core competency), the idea of "impacting the world" begins to emerge. You start to see, as better and better people come on board, as systems fall into place, as you consider what you're really great at and what you're passionate about, a way you can make the world better. You realize that you can achieve something really big and really meaningful. Just as JFK who, in 1962 said, "Our Goal, before this decade is out, is to send a man to the moon, and return him safely to the Earth." Or like Sony in 1954, "we will change the way people view the word's -made in Japan." You too will set your sites on the thing that your company is called to do.

Success

The BHAG or Vision will be as vivid as we can possibly make it. Once we have CLARITY, people’s teleological nature kicks in. Great strides are imminent. A “flow” will emerge, success, because it is so well defined, will “happen”. Sustained success will be normal as the consistency of the people and the way they FIT together, their shared values and skills will cause such a high level of performance that it will take on “magical” components.

Jeffrey A Pelletier 651-492-8540

Don't Settle

The process of greatness is born out of a desire to make a distinction in the marketplace. It begins with the idea that each person has upon his/her life a distinctiveness, a uniqueness. This uniqueness that we each have, has been provided so that we can aspire to excellence, to make a "life" contribution to make a mark in the world. When a group of like-minded people get to together and link these distinctions, and point them at a unified goal, GREATNESS happens.

This is why FIRST WHO, THEN WHAT is so important. Purpose and Values are the bedrock unifier for the organization and attract the right people, who seek that purpose or a similar purpose and align with or share the values.

Whatever vision these people set out to accomplish will not be insignificant, it will be great. (It may not be BIG, as greatness doesn't necessarily mean big.) The reason it will be great, is that all of the normal "issues" that misaligned people deal with will be minimal or not exist. They will genuinely and instinctively recognize that they "fit" together, that they belong together, and they will feel powerful and enabled.

When you lead a company or start one, YOU are the distinctiveness of that company. If you hire a bunch of people to "help you get the job done" you will have hired a bunch of assistants with whom you will be frustrated most of the time and for whom you will do most of the thinking. This will take you only so far, unless you are one of the top 1% of the population who can "run" a company and be the source of it's success a la Lee Iacocca at Chrysler, or Frank Purdue. But even in these cases when that leader left results waned.

Long-term highly effective companies like those identified in the book "Good To Great-Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't", by Jim Collins, achieve that success with an empowered group of people who are exponentially more effective as a group than any one person could ever be and who form an enduring culture that lasts. Starting out this way with a new venture is not that difficult to do but the temptation to "settle" for pretty good results is still there and many do.

Assembling this ALIGNED group of people and facilitating them into a group who forms a vision based on their common Core Competence, while you operate the company, make products, deliver service etc, is like re-building the car while you are driving it.

Because this process of transformation is very difficult the temptation to give up is pretty strong. That is why I have dedicated my professional life to helping you to accomplish greatness. The number one enemy of great is.....Good.

The bottom line is DON'T SETTLE for less than greatness.

Jeffrey A Pelletier 651-492-8540

The PROCESS of Transformation

"The Book Good to Great, Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't" by Jim Collins, is long on ingredients but short on methodology.

The ideas of Purpose, Passion, Level 5 Leadership, Values, discipline, being the Best In The World at something, and the (Stockdale) paradox between hope and realism are all there in the research, but most of the executives I know, having read the book, are at a loss as to how to proceed.

Make no mistake making the Leap is no easy thing, If it were easy more than 11 companies would have made the Leap to that elite status of perpetual performance that lasted 15 or more successive years.

The easy thing to do is say, "this was just a fluke, it isn't really possible, duplicating will take a miracle".

If this is what you think, you are, of course, defeated already. And remember the first line of the book, "Good is the enemy of Great." And it is.

No, making the leap is not impossible but there is an order, and methodology, but there is no cookie cutter, "stamp it out" template. With each company I work with, I am consistent, as the characteristics and aspects of greatness that I seek to bring to the organization are not negotiable. But the methodology changes based on the organization.

Each organization is in a different state, and each one must make it's own way through the process. What I do is preserve the core of the greatness DNA, but the processes are in flux because afterall we are re-building the plane while it is in the air.

The core principals are the chapters in the book- First Who then What, Level 5 Leadership, The Hedgehog Concept, ( a rather lame label I think) etc are not negotiable.

But I always start with an assessment of the current organization, it's people, products, organization and market. This tells me where to begin.

After I form this assessment (which I have created for the transformation process) I produce a report that I present to the owner or CEO which we discuss in detail.

What I do next depends on that discussion. There is only ONE thing that must always be true:

The owners or leader of the organization must make a firm commitment for 6 months, for us to work together and toward the process of transformation. If this committment isn't made I will produce the assessment and I may do some work for the organization or a project. But I will not pursue "greatness" without a committment. And I should add one more thing: No company which has made this six month committment, has stopped after that six months are over. In fact, the progress we make and the improvements are so tangible, that another six months has happened every time.

Jeffrey A Pelletier


If you are ready to make the leap, call me at or e-mail me at becominggreat@becominggreat.com . The first hour is always free.

The WALL

Every growing organization hits it sooner or later. ....... The Wall.

Take these guys: “We started out and had this really neat idea that was just lying there waiting for someone to see it. We got the capital together, hired some people and made a mad dash to bring the product to market. And it worked!!! Money started to role in. More people were hired, and the plant was expanded. Had to build on to the office because we ran out of room. For about 10 years things were going great. Then it happened.

For some reason revenue leveled off, then declined. So did profit, almost dollar for dollar with revenue. First we thought it was the economy (the most often used excuse), then it was new competition. Maybe it was Frank; he never has been a very good marketing person. No, it was the commitment of the staff. They used to work a lot harder when we first started out, and they had gotten fat and lazy, and they'd gotten a little overconfident maybe. Better shake things up, and get everybody back on track. Let's do some training; that will do it.

We’ve got good people- my brother and I started this thing in our garage after all. We had really done well for ten years, but for some reason, the engine doesn't seem to be firing on all cylinders. NO matter what we try, and we work really hard at trying, nothing seems to work.”

Sound familiar?

The "wall" is that place of organizational performance when the way things are, is different from the way things need to be, and we don't know what to do differently. The common response is to talk about "what got us here" and re-double our efforts, doing the same things. And as you may know, insanity is doing the same thing over and over, expecting a different result. It occurs when reality changes and the organization does not respond to it properly. What this means pragmatically is that the organizational thinking that got you where you are, IS NO LONGER VALID; it has outgrown its usefulness. You have hit the wall. NO matter how many times you re-double your efforts, doing the same old things, it won’t do you any good.

Things must, dare I say it, ch-ch-change!!!

Someone once said that we hate change and at the end of the day what we really want is for things to stay the same...... and get better.

Ain’t it the truth? The fact is the change we fear is the change of growth. And it is necessary for our long term health, both as individuals and as organisms. Now, it’s also true that not all change is growth, but it is true that all growth requires change. I like to call it transformation, because that’s what it is.

As any person or organization ages, it must change and adapt to stay healthy. It must transform. I tell individuals that I work with that as they get older they need to seek ways of making money with their head more than their body. Executives rely on the fact that they can work all night and show up relatively fresh for the presentation when they’re in their 20’s or 30’s. Or they could take on most of the projects and oversee everyone personally to make sure things got done. But as they age they need to work smarter to work harder and focus on developing people and systems that exponentially improve things, so that they can get the best return on the wisdom they’ve accumulated as they grow older.

Organizations are the same. Competition enters the market, economies evolve, methods come along, technology is rapidly progressing, and entire buildings are being blown to bits. Things are changing. We need to transform (become new and different) as well, without changing our core. We need to maintain a sure compass of principals as we stimulate progress towards what needs to change about our form, or products or methods; this is the transformation process.

It is essential to transform; we will die (figuratively) if we don’t.

About the book: “Good to Great- Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t”, by Jim Collins-

Please read the book. The great thing about what Jim and his passionate group of people have done and continue to pursue is that, as Detective Sgt Friday on Dragnet would say: “Just give me the facts ma’am.”

Collins and his team focus exclusively on empirical evidence in their study, in short, they study the successful companies that made the leap and just report the facts. The beauty of this approach is there is no theory. It’s just true.

You can reach me at 651-492-8540 or. The first hour of my time with you is free. Contact me today, and we'll get started.

Jeffrey A Pelletier

The Importance of Clarity

When I sit with a potential client who wears glasses, even reading glasses, I ask him or her to take them off and tell me how well they view the world or the page. I ask them if they can see clearly. Nearly every time the answer is no, or not as well as with the glasses. What is the moral? When it comes to vision, CLARITY is everything!!! A simple powerful exercise. Without clarity it is a lot less likely you'll succeed. If your vision isn't;t clear and if it's not explained clearly to your people, you're putting roadblocks in the road to your success.

More than any other single thing, the book "Good to Great, Why Some Companies Make The Leap and Others Don't" by Jim Collins, is about CLARITY.

The 11 companies arrived at clarity about some key organizational components that really set them apart.

First they are clear about why they exist- Their purpose statement defines the "soul" of the organization and will never change.

Second, they are clear about that on which they base their decisions- The Core Values. While these also never change, they are articulated in the present tense as they are not platitudes or ideals, they are what you actually believe in the here and now.

Third these organizations are clear about where their passion lies.

Fourth, they know what they can be the best in the world at.

Fifth, they are clear about how they will impact the world and have done the hard work of articulating, specifically how the world will be different because they exist.

This clarity makes a good deal else seem relatively easier and simple as opposed to complex and difficult.

To get help in transforming, call me at 651-492-8540The first hour is always free.

Jeffrey A Pelletier

Core Purpose--Core Values--- ???

Values are the principles, morals, ethics, beliefs which when added together produce a "constitution" of thinking from which to make decisions. To the degree that these Values are grounded in reality, they will be useful and relevant. If they are "pie in the sky" ideals that are not practiced, they become a "plaque on the wall".

When I work with organizations in their desire to make the leap from good to great, one of the things I do, is help the leaders decide what thir values are. This is a necessary part of making the leap. It's all about being AUTHENTIC, the "real deal".

Guess what? Once you decide what those values are and how you are living them, you have begun a process of liberation that will lead to greatness.

If you would like to talk about how to accomplish this, call me. ormailto:transformation@becominggreat.com

Leadership - Strong Professional Will

Strong Professional Will

The second character trait that Jim Collins and his team found in the Level 5 leaders they labeled Strong Professional Will.

Again, SPW is NOT braggadocios bravado, an “I can do anything” spirit. The study of the Collin’s team revealed a “ferocious resolve” and “stoic determination” in Level 5 leaders. It’s very important here to see the synergy between humility and what GTG calls strong professional will. As I said previously, humility is knowing the truth about yourself, seeing yourself as you truly are. But it’s not about having a poor self-image, it’s about having an ACCURATE one. The SPW of Level 5s is formidable. There is a word in the Bible which is translated “devotion” most of the time. Its meaning is “unremitting continuance”. That is the character of Level 5s. They just don’t quit when it comes to achieving the vision, but their humility keeps their ego in check. They accomplish a “great” deal, but they just don’t give a wit if anyone notices. In fact, they’d prefer that no one did notice.

You may have had a teacher in your younger years or a parent or uncle or aunt, who was what I call “sneaky good”. They had underlying passion, but were “stealthy” about revealing it. They also made it their business to help YOU succeed. This is the synergy and I believe the power of Level 5. Level 5’s are about OTHERS and the CAUSE. They quite literally “lay down their lives”. That doesn’t necessarily mean they are workaholics. It does mean that they FOCUS on why the organization exists, what its purpose is, and (and this is critical) they understand the true purpose of power.

The purpose of power is……….EMPOWERMENT.

Truly equipping others, being “other-centered” in relationships is what a Level 5 is about. Seeing his\her job as helping IT (the organization) and THEM, (the people around them) succeed. That is the essence of the PRACTICE of Level 5s in my view.

The Level 5’s think: “To succeed, I must help my people succeed.” If they fail, I fail. They are absolutely focused on the fulfillment of the vision, and its clarity, they LIVE the values of the organization, but its not and never will be, about them.

As I said Level 5’s are not deluded in their thinking. They have a very accurate perception of who they really are and what they can really do. But their determination should never be “mis-underestimated.”

Let me end this posting with this: Level 5 Leadership is more about character than anything else. You don’t DO it, you ARE it. If you aspire to be a Level 5 leader, find yourself a coach or mentor because you must sign up for the journey. If you’d like me to help you: ph-651-492-8540

Becoming Great only BEGINS with the Right People

In his book "Good to Great" Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't", Jim Collins studied 2500 publically traded companies looking for the ones that were able to achieve and sustain earnings that were 300 % better than the the Stock Market over a 15 year span or more. He and his reseaqrch team of 21 people identified 11 companies that met the criteria. They then set out to determine if these companies had anything in common that caused their success.

They found amazing similarities. One of which was how much emphasis, call it passion, these companies had for finding the right people. In fact, in the book this aspect of success was entitled "first who- then what".

The idea being that before you decide what to DO, you should have the RIGHT people.
The book uses the metaphor of the company as a Bus. The point is to have the right people , but in the right seats, on the bus.

Here's myth that was blown out of the water by the Collins Team. Character was more important than competence when it comes to selecting people. WHO the people were was even decided before the VISION was established. And they found no direct correlation between Executive Compensation and the transformation from being a Good company to becoming a Great one.

And finally, the old idea that "People are the most important asset" is wrong.
The RIGHT people are the most important.


Later.....

The RIGHT Mix of Control and Freedom

The RIGHT Mix of Control and Freedom

Level 5 leadership, according to the research conducted in the book “Good To Great- Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t” by Jim Collins, is the product of two main ingredients of character: Humility and Strong Professional Will. Humility as we have discovered in previous postings, is having an “accurate” perception of yourself, and your strengths and your weaknesses. It’s about being “teachable” and having the ego that allows you to change your mind when the evidence is clear. Strong Professional Will is really perseverance, stick-to-it-tiveness, endurance, unremitting continuance, a never-give-up in achieving the ultimate vision .

When these two character traits exist in the “boss”, people have a leader that they can count on, and one they know will seek to empower them. They know where they’re going (BHAG), why they are going (Purpose), and the basic framework exists for making decisions along the way (Values). When people are informed in this way they are either motivated beyond description, or are ready to “check out” because they just don’t “get it” and don’t want to. (They don’t align.)

When people who align with the organization and have the knowledge and skill ( or the aptitude to obtain it) they are self managing. They just don’t need a manager very often. They may need a teacher, or someone to answer their questions, but they don’t require “supervision” in the modern-day sense. They need someone who will anticipate their performance needs, and be just one step ahead of them in making sure those needs are met. They need a sounding board, a confidant, someone who will look out for their performance interests and make sure they’re met.

Some managers have a problem even envisioning this type of scenario because they feel like they will not have the control they need to meet their management accountability. But this is a myth.

They will have more real control than they ever thought possible, because results will conform to or exceed the plan.

Control, by definition, is defined as: the things we do to make sure results conform to plan.

A group of highly committed, highly confident, well trained, aligned people, will perform at a very high level, oftentimes EXCEEDING expectations without a lot of direct oversight.

But you say to me, “Jeff, you don’t know the people I have to work with.” You’re right. There is no substitute for the right people. The cliché goes like this: It’s easier to hire the right person than to train the wrong one.. As my friend Dudley Hawkey says, “It’s tough to make fine furniture, if the wood has knots in it.”

The right people (not people, the right people) are the most important asset.

The good news is that laying the foundation and setting up the relevant systems to find and keep th right people is something, I can help you do. E-mail me to set up a phone call to discuss how. jeff@becominggreat.com .

The Power of Commitment

Becoming a great organization has one undeniable aspect, one bedrock principle, one single beginning point, that if not grasped, if ignored or denied, then greatness will not occur.

COMMITMENT.

Without this one fundamental principle in place, you will not succeed. Now, all that said, commitment, by itself will not guarantee greatness, but without it you cannot succeed.

Here's why. Transformation is what becoming great is all about. Just like a caterpillar transforms to a butterfly, so an organization moves from being good to great. It takes a great deal of time for the caterpillar to transform to a butterfly. It requires a great deal of patience, waiting.

Now, imagine if for that transformation to a occur a group of caterpillars all needed to join together. THAT'S why transformation is so difficult and so rarely accomplished. That's why COMMITMENT is so key.

Transformation.

With one group of executives, we spent the first three sessions deciding if we were going to pursue the process!!! I wasn't going to let them proceed until they EACH made a personal commitment to the process. Why? because nobody gives their best to something if they don't psychologically own what they are about to do. That's what commitment is: Psychological Ownership.

When I went to Graduate school, I went through a Modular program with 29 other people. After the very first class someone quit saying "I can't do this its too difficult!". At the end of three years only 16 of the 29 had actually completed their degrees. I will admit at age 45, it seemed pretty difficult to me too. But I had so committed to the process that the experience actually turned out to be the most significant professional experience of my life, because I owned the process.

Why We Work

We work because we are created to work.

Try not doing something. Even thinking is work. Sometimes hard work. We think, we imagine, we do. We have the tools, our hands and back and feet and we have a mind which is potentially our greatest tool. It's impossible not to work. It is intrinsically human to work. The question is not to work or not to work, the question is, what are we doing? And what are we working for? Perhaps a better way of asking the question is: what are we working TOWARDS? What are YOU working towards?

I started this Blog because I want to affect the quality of work in organizations in the purest sense. And it is what we are working TOWARDS that affects the quality of our work and of our worklife. History is replete with examples of people who felt completely incomplete, after having hooked their wagon to the $$$$ star, only to find that "stuff' wasn't where it's at. There is more to your worklife and I want to help you find it. And what it is for you isn't what it is for me. But we each need to be aligned with something greater than ourselves, to be fulfilled in what we do. And I've never met anyone who wasn't seeking a meaningful existence. We just seem to be "hard-wired" that way.

As a Christian, I believe that each of us is created in the image of God and that we EACH have specific, unique talents and skills that are intended for a specific purpose. (Rick Warren's "The Purpose Driven Life" addresses this directly.) This purpose, once identified is what ignites our passion, giving us enthusiasm. (Enthusiasm comes from en-theos, which means in- God).

When you form a company or organzation, you are creating something "bigger than yourself" and you need to bring people together in pursuit of the purpose you identify. You need to bring people together who agree or align with that purpose, whose own purpose is similar. As you accomplish this you achieve real excellence, and the JOY of work is its own reward.

So the big question for you is "what are you working towards?"

Want to know more? www.righteousfreeenterprise.blogspot.com

The Rarity of Level 5

The Rarity of Level 5’s

I’m working with a current client who wants to make the leap from being good to being a great organization.

He’s a natural "Level 5". You’ll remember that Level 5 is someone with Humility and Strong Professional Will. John (not his real name), has an almost ferociousness about getting things done and about holding people accountable. He was raised on a turkey farm in the upper Midwest so he knows what dung smells like. If you start spreading it around his current business establishment (not related to farming or turkeys at all), you can expect to be called on it. Yet if you challenge him authentically, and make sense, you can expect that he will change his mind completely the next day and agree with you. You see, John has figured out something Level 4’s never understand. YOUR COMPANY'S NOT ABOUT YOU. YOUR COMPANY IS ABOUT IT!

John has taken his business from a little 3 person shop 11 years ago, to 30 employees, growing 20% per year for each of the last 4 years. Of course he did this through sheer will and working 100 hours per week. Now he’s starting to hit “the wall” (see archived entry) and he needs some help. His insurance broker recommended me and I’ve been with him now for 16 weeks. My goal is to work myself out of a job there, but I love the place.

About a year ago, John had two major heart procedures (at the same time) one of which was absolutely life threatening.

In the book "Good to Great"- Why Some Companies Make The Leap and Others Don't", Jim Collins posits that a near death experience is sometimes the catalyst for developing the humility needed in Level 5, or perhaps a life event like a major faith conversion is needed. John has had both in his life. The addition of his selflessness, (humility) has incited his people to walk over hot coals for him, should he ask, which he would not do.

He has the uniqueness of being dogged in his pursuit of IT, (not information technology, his purpose, values and vision) and at the same time being teachable, learning, submissive (to others ideas) and grateful. He "invited" his management team to pursue the Core Ideology with him (Purpose and Values), and then humbled himself and sat there as a participant (although an influential one) and submitted to my facilitation of the process we agreed to. Here we are 12 weeks later, and we almost have the Core Ideology complete. (Many Level 4's just announce their Core Ideology, albeit with much salesmanship and fanfare.)

His management team at first was tentative, even cautious, but he won them over with his humility, at the same time being like a dog on the hunt, but also being teachable, listening, changing, but calling out the dung when he smelled it . Can you just imagine it?

There is a saying that God opposes the proud, but gives Grace to the humble.

You can either humble yourself, or be humbled by events, either way you are better off although the second path (humiliation) is much more painful.

What does it take to humble yourself?

Mostly it is the realization that you just are NOT as important as you might think you are, and that a committed group of talented, “aligned” people, focused on the same “big idea” are exponentially more powerful than any one person could be, no matter how smart or powerful that one person might be. Begin by thinking about that over and over to see if it's true. If you can arrive at that truth, you've begun the process of seeing yourself truthfully. Once you get there you'll start to see the true value of the people around you, and First Who, Then What will start to make sense.

Hitler could make the trains run on time and ran a very efficient state, but he was defeated, as was Saddam Hussein. And no company has truly led, longer than it’s dynamic, charismatic, owner could be effective.

Lasting Greatness begins by being focused on IT, not YOU.

A Culture of Discipline

A Culture of Discipline

“We based the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it.
We have staked the future of all political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.” – James Madison, Author of the Constitution of the United State and the 4th President.

In the book “Good to Great- Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Other Don’t” by Jim Collins, we learn that the 11 companies that made the final cut as the “great companies” all had what the author refers to as Culture of Discipline (Chapter 6).

In my work in helping organizations transform using the principles found in these 11 companies I make the follow statement after the Hedgehog Concept is defined: “ It is vital that you allow your Hedgehog Concept to INFORM the rest of your actions, or all the hard work that went into creating it will be meaningless.” What this means, and what the 11 companies proved beyond any doubt, is that a Culture of Discipline is a focused effort to submit to something greater than oneself, and to vigorously submit one’s talents and skills to its attainment. In a great company that thing beyond oneself is the BHAG ( the purpose, passion and values) of the organization. The reason the BHAG needs to be the focus is because it is the identity of the organization. The purpose is why it exists, the MEGA ACCOMPLISHMENT is where it is headed, and the VALUES are the constructs of Culture. IF you allow your Hedgehog Concept to INFORM your behavior, and IF you hire people who align with it, a Culture of Discipline will RESULT. You will not need to create it, it will just happen.

Unless you allow these critical components to DRIVE everything else you will fail in fulfilling the potential that the Hedgehog Concept describes.

From WHO---to WHAT, the discipline that follows should come out of the framework that the HHC defines, and is meant to FLOW from it. Unless the organization’s PEOPLE align with and agree to submit to this framework it is lost.

But the good news is that within this framework there is a wonderful paradox. The people who submit to the framework, have BOTH freedom and responsibility. And it is a GREAT thing when the natural tension of a paradox can be sustained.

Madison’s quote is a great study in retrospect. The Declaration of Independence is like the purpose statement. The Constitution is like the BHAG, and the TEN COMMANDMENTS of God are the VALUES that form the CULTURE that makes it all work. And as of today, the United States of America and this “culture of discipline” that Madison defines, has worked better, longer, than any institution since the Roman Empire. And the argument can be made that the Level 5 leadership of a duly elected President, Congress and appointed Judiciary that the American system of government describes in its intent, far exceeds the Level 4 leadership of the Caesars, with it’s puppet Senate.

To become a Great organization, profit or not for profit, requires this discipline, this willingness to submit to something beyond yourself, which is why what you seek must bring out the best in you and the people you work with. This is why PASSION and being the VERY BEST, are important.

I would add a third, …..JOY.

call 651-492-8540

Greatness "technology"

It occurred to me as I was reading the book, "Good to Great" by Jim Collins, that the process of becoming great that the 11 companies utilitzed is precisely the same process that great individuals have used, only applied to an organization, or a better word might be "organism".

Look at Tiger Woods. He is obviously a very talented person capable of doing great things with a golf ball. But he and most analysts attribute his success to two things.

First, he is mentally tough and extreeeeeemly focussed. And second, he wants to be the best and he's not ashamed of that. He's not seeking fame, in fact his interviews about that subject prove other wise, as that is the part "he puts up with." He doesn't just want to be the very best golfer he can be, either. He wants to be the very best, at what he does.

This idea of wanting to be the very best at something, is at the core of the transformation process. What the 11 companies cited in the study accomplished, was to take Tiger's attitude (and he is just one example) and apply it organizationally.

It's much easier for an individual to make this leap, and common sense just proves that. For an organization (of many people) to accomplish this requires much greater understanding and more importantly committment.

But the rewards are great.

The easiest one to grasp is the financial reward. These 11 companies out-performed the stock market for 15 consecutive years. (But that was NOT their goal.)

But even more, there is the reward of JOY. When greatness is achieved there occurs a type of JOY which I define as a sense of "wonder", or euphoria, a "no greater than" sense of accomplishment, that is humbling.

Great athletes call it being in the "zone". The great Bill Russell of Boston Celtics fame (six championships in a row) said that when they played truly great basketball, it was like it was happening in slow motion.

The New Enghland Patriots have won 3 Super Bowls in the last four years, because they seek to be the very best at what they do. The Super Bowl is merely the measure they use.

Think about this for your organization. And think about a world where being "major-league" is commonplace.

It makes me shiver.

jeff@becominggreat.com

The Momentum of Change

What drives momentum?

All of the companies that were written about in the book “Good to Great”-Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t, by Jim Collins, developed what is a called a “Fly Wheel Effect” concerning the attainment of their vision, or BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).

The critical difference in my view, between the Great Organizations and the “Almost Great Ones” (AGO’s) is that the Great organizations were more deliberate about their commitment to success.

With a clear Vision, a “Hedgehog Concept”, in their mind’s eye, the great organizations begin the deliberate process of constructing a plan to become the organization they envision. Now causing that to happen is very difficult at first. But if commitment is strong and the plan “comes out of “ the Vision, bit by bit, momentum starts to become established. The book uses the process of getting a huge fly wheel moving. If the Leadership sets the vision, and is deliberate in planning for it and deliberate about implementing the plan (which begins with WHO, not what), then slowly, but SURELY, momentum begins to build.

If the Vision and Values are allowed to “inform” the plan, and the plan is executed by the right people, the organization starts to “take on” the actualization of the vision, the BHAG, at least the first part of it. The great people who work in your organization start to take psychological ownership of the plan. Because this collective ownership is powerful, it produces synergy, a natural working-together that is greater than the sum of the parts. Slowly at first, people will begin to take initiative. And it will be the RIGHT KIND of initiative, producing the right kinds of outcomes. And this momentum that is slowly but surely created begins to build, and the plan takes on LIFE apart from the leadership. And over time the Fly Wheel begins to spin without the force pushing on it and the organization’s engine starts to purr.

You can walk into a place where the fly wheel is turning and you will know it right away. It is a magical thing. The goal for the leaders is to keep the flywheel spinning. But they must realize that applying their own force (Level 4 Leadership) is not the right approach. Once motion becomes perpetual, different tactics are needed.

Email me.

Do you have a council group?

Do You Have a Council?

Successful Level 5 leaders form and facilitate what Jim Collins in the book -“Good to Great- Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t”- calls, a Council.

A Council is a group of people who act as advisors to the top executive of the organization. It should not be the Board of Directors, but a member of the board can be on the Council. A Council is chosen to assist the top executive make major decisions about the formation, content and extent of the Hedgehog Concept of the company and then to help him\her “sift” subsequent strategy through that Hedgehog Concept. In short, a Council exists to get to the “truth” about the big decisions, NOT to decide the big decisions.

In the book on page 114-116 you will find the following characteristics of a Council:

1. The Council exists as a device to gain understanding about important issues facing the organization.

2. The Council is assembled and used by the leading executive and usually consists of 5-12 people.

3. Each Council member has the ability to argue and debate in search of understanding, not the egoistic need to win a point or protect a parochial interest.

4. Each Council member retains the respect of every other Council member without exception.

5. Council members come from a range of perspectives, but each member has a deep knowledge of some aspect of the organization and/or environment in which it operates.

6. The Council includes key members of the management team, but is not limited to members of the management team, nor is every executive automatically a member.

7. The Council is a standing body, not an ad hoc committee assembled for a specific project.

8. The Council meets periodically, as much as once a week or as infrequently as once per quarter.

9. The Council does NOT seek consensus, recognizing that consensus decisions are often at odds with intelligent decisions. The responsibility for the final decision remains with the leading executive.

10. The Council is an informal body, not listed on any formal organization chart or in any formal documents.

11. The Council can have a range of possible names, usually quite innocuous. In the Good to Great Companies, they had benign names like Long-Range Profit Improvement Committee, Corporate Products Committee, Strategic Thinking Group, and Executive Council.

U.S. President Andrew Jackson had what he called his “Kitchen Cabinet”, an informal group of trusted advisors who he turned to when making big decisions. They literally would meet in the White House kitchen. Do you have one?

If you need help working through how to do this, contact me today.

jeff@becominggreat.com

Levels of Leadership

Levels of Leadership

Jim Collins, author of "Good To Great, Why Some Companies Make The Leap and Others Don’t”, says in that book that Level 5 Leadership was in use in all 11 of the GTG companies. Now I’ll have a lot to say about this subject because in my view Level 5 Leadership is the SECOND most important aspect to the GTG transformation process for an organization to transform, commitment being the single most important. In their study the Collin’s team detected two core character traits of Level 5 leaders.

1. Humility
2. Strong professional will. (Can you see how commitment is so much a part of this?)_


Let’s look at humility. Humble people have an insight into themselves that is easy to detect. They “know” their humanity. They are unpretentious, and not at all braggarts. As someone once said, “humble people know the truth about themselves.” In the book GTG, Jim Collins uses Abraham Lincoln as a person of humility with strong personal will. Lincoln had many many moments of self doubt. But he didn’t let his doubt determine his outcome.

Humility isn’t a poor self image, it’s a correct one.

Humble people know who they are and who they are not. Because of their humility they admit their mistakes but more so, they have the self-awareness to learn from them. They are “teachable.” Humble leaders are just fine with hiring people who can do things they can’t do, and are genuinely grateful for those people. This ability to hire people that could exceed him/her in accomplishment is rare in corporate America. This is why so many personally successful CEO’s are what Jim Collins calls Level 4 Leaders. The succinct phrase that the book uses to describe a Level 4 leader is “a genius, with a thousand assistants.” Interesting phrase. What this means in plain terms is that the Level 4 leader is directly responsible for the success of the organization, based on his/her OWN efforts as a manager-leader. HE-SHE is the visionary, the one everybody turns to for direction and guidance. Level 4’s are EXTREMELY intelligent people, VERY knowledgeable.

BUT, none of the companies the GTG team studied who had Level 4 leaders, endured at a high level. This is a profound fact. When the Level 4 genius left, success waned.

Level 5 Leaders assemble the best people before they establish vision. During the process of establishing the vision, they don’t need to be in control, they “participate,” influence, test and prove-out the truth. They seek the GOOD for the organization, apart from their own success. This requires humility.


Level 5’s create something bigger and more enduring than themselves. Remember Lincoln?

E-mail me to begin the transformation process.