Failing Our Leaders

Right out of college I was hired to be a supervisor in a poultry processing plant (yes, I studied chickens in college). With the ink on my degree still wet, I was now in charge of 42 people at the seasoned age of 21. I received no leadership or management training other than a four week indoctrination where I spent one week in each of the four major areas of the business to learn what they do.

Then I was thrown to into the fire of ‘management’. With absolutely no formal training on how to lead people I reverted to what I learned from my dad as I was growing up. He was a military man and very strict. I learned pretty quickly that his way of raising us did not necessarily work in everywhere. The result – I failed. It was ugly. And now I look back and can see how I failed the people that reported to me.

I entered the Navy after that and during that time I received some of the best leadership training I have ever had. Throughout my career I had formal training and on the job training. The military invested in my training. What was taught to us in the classroom was only the starting point for leadership training. But having that formal framework gave me the foundation for each job I have had since. Those jobs, in turn, gave me the opportunity to apply what I had learned and to grow as a leader. I made a lot of mistakes but I always had good mentors that guided me through the learning point of each mistake. Because of this it was very rare that a mistake was repeated.

Keep in mind that when you put a person in a leadership role of any kind you are putting them there to help the people reporting to them do their jobs better and be successful. But are you helping your leader do a better job? If you don’t train them then you are doing them and your company a huge disservice. There is really no reason not to invest in them. Would you hire someone to do a job for you without training them on how to do it? I don’t think so. So why do we not invest in our leaders? Why is it expected that just because someone is promoted into a leadership role that they immediately know how to lead?

They need training, especially those that are in their first supervisory role. This training can be in a formal classroom setting and/or with a coach or mentor. Ideally, it is formal training followed up with some degree of leadership coaching. But they need to be given the right tools to do their job just like anyone else in your company. Sure, there is cost to it for both the formal training and the coaching, but what is the cost of having someone in a role that was never trained to do it? Can you afford to have someone learn it as they go?

So when do you invest in them? As I discussed in a previous blog, the time to do this is when they get their first supervisory/management role. Invest in them early and the return on that investment will be greater. With proper training/coaching they can become good leaders and help your business grow. Invest early because it is also very hard to correct improper training and ingrained, poor habits. And the damage that can be done to your business will cost you in the long run if we continue to Fail Our Leaders.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

If I Become King

We all do this. We sit around with friends and colleagues and complain about the way things are being done where we work, and about the people in charge. And we always have a better way to do it.

Back before the earth cooled I was a young junior officer at my first actual job in the Navy (at the ripe old age of 25) after receiving my wings.  I was the branch officer responsible for the care and feeding of 27 aviation electricians. It wasn’t my first leadership role. I’d already held a couple of those before I entered the Navy. And like a lot of young (and sometimes even old) guys I sat around with my pals and we often complained about how screwed up things were and how we would do things differently if we were the King. So I decided to keep a log of things I liked and disliked about the way things were being done, and what I liked and disliked about the leadership styles of the senior officers with whom I served. Most of the comments were bullet points about this and that, and over time it filled about 15 or so pages. I was determined that If I Become King I would do things differently. I would do things right!

About ten years later, when I was put in my first department head job, I recalled that book and pulled it out. I was no longer a junior officer. So as I read through it I was amazed at some of the things that I had written. I was amazed that some of what I had written was still valid. I was even more amazed that about 75% of what I thought needed changing was due to utter naiveté. Of course, when I was younger I thought I had all the answers. But I now had more life and work experience and, while some of what I felt needed to be changed or incorporated into what I wanted my leadership style to be was still pertinent, a lot of what I thought needed changing was due more to my lack of knowledge and experience than a process or leadership style that was erroneous.

On the surface, it would appear that if about 75% of what I wrote down to change was wrong then it was a failed exercise. I don’t think so. I did learn some things from that exercise that have stuck with me since:

·         It’s easy to complain about something when we don’t have the whole picture.

·         Not everything that we think is being done wrong is actually being done wrong.

·         Many things we don’t like have nothing to do with the efficiency or effectiveness of what’s being done, it’s more about our personal preference.

·         Just because we become leaders doesn’t mean we’re done learning. On the contrary. I’ve learned more about leadership while being a leader than I ever learned in a water cooler conversation or in a leadership training class.

There are times when I wish I had kept a similar journal when I started my corporate career. It would be interesting to see if the results would be the same. I still see things being done that I don’t agree with but now I am more able to discern whether it is an actual problem that needs to be addressed, or just something that I would personally do differently If I Become King.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

When They Say “NO”

It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, there will come a time (many, actually) when a customer will say NO. It could be that what you are offering doesn’t meet their needs, they have gone with a competitor, or decided that they don’t want, or aren’t prepared, to make a decision at the moment. As disappointing as it can be, it’s not the end of the world and there are ways to turn it into a positive.

Years ago when I was selling software I was trying to get on a couple of teams for a major government outsourcing procurement. I was trying to get on two of the teams in particular. I only ended up on one of them. Nothing unusual there. So over the next 12 months or so of the source selection process I stayed in touch with the other team and actually worked with them on another program. When the contract was awarded our team was not selected, but the other team I tried to get on was. I called and congratulated them and moved on to closing other business. A few months later they called me. The software provider they had originally chosen was not able to be used in that environment and they were now in search of a replacement. It would now be a competitive runoff between us and two other vendors. Back in the game!

The point here is that a NO is not always the end of the story. There are ways to handle a NO that may keep the relationship alive. So what should you do when you hear NO?

Ask for feedback. Why were your products or services not selected? Did your company lack something the customer wanted? What could you do better the next time? No one wants to hear criticism but if it helps win future business it is worth hearing.

Thank them for their consideration. No one will win everything they attempt. But if you at least got to be considered, be thankful. And let the customer know that you appreciate their time too.

Stay in touch. Maintain contact with them, especially if you think there is potential to do business down the road. Remember a recent blog of mine where I discussed building long term relationships. Customers don’t want to feel like the only reason you’re there is to sell them something. Sometimes a loss may lead to another opportunity to help that customer in a different and/or even bigger way. So stay in touch. Send them pertinent information as needed. Keep trying to learn their business. But don’t be a stalker. Make your interactions with them relevant.

Also remember, getting told NO may be a blessing in disguise. Not every deal is a good deal. You will have to determine how to react to a NO. My experience has shown me that staying professional and in contact after a NO built a longer term relationship that in some cases reaped bigger rewards.

Oh, the shootout with the other two vendors…we won and it was the biggest software sale of my career, and the biggest in that company for the year. I am still in touch with some of those teammates even 12+ years later.

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

HAPPY VETERANS DAY

Cobalt Group honors all that have served, and those that are serving now.

 

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.

Are We Going to Abilene?

We've all been there. We are in a discussion about something and we sense that the path we’re taking is the wrong direction. Either through what we believe the evidence to be or by instinct, we know that the decision being made is going to be a bad decision. But then, we just sit there and say nothing.

Right after I received my Wings of Gold in the Navy I was sent to their Leadership, Management, Education, and Training (LMET) course. This was the first course on leadership and management that I received in the Navy and it was a good course. I was a young Ensign and had already been a supervisor before joining the Navy. In one of the sessions we were discussing what I mentioned in the first paragraph and they had us watch a short movie called ‘The Road to Abilene’. As I recall, it was about a group of people that were sitting around, bored, on a hot Friday or Saturday afternoon trying to decide what to do when someone suggests that they take a trip to Abilene (about an hour away) for dinner. No one really protests but no one really wants to spend the hour on a hot and dusty car trip. When they get to the cafe, the food is just as bad as the drive. Then they drive back home and are exhausted.

One of them says, "It was a great trip, wasn't it?" The others now said they would rather have stayed home but went along with it since the everyone else seemed so eager. Then they all sit around and try to figure out why it was that they together decided to take a trip which none of them wanted. They each would have preferred to stay at home, but did not admit to it when they had the chance to say so.

I have experienced this in the Navy and in my corporate career. Someone comes up with what they think is a good idea and the rest of us aren't really sure, or know we shouldn't, but we all just go with it. No one wants to speak up and be the voice of reason or dissent, and challenge the group think or momentum that the idea is beginning to build. There have been times when I was in decision meetings on what tactic to use to destroy a target, or what opportunities to pursue, and I knew inherently that the decisions being made were bad but I didn’t speak up. In the Navy some of those could have life or death consequences, while the corporate consequence was usually fiduciary. Regardless, I should have spoken up. Why didn’t I?

It is hard for a lot of us to say no in these circumstances. Perhaps we aren’t sure of our reasoning. Perhaps we fear the group pressure that would follow. Maybe we fear not being seen as a team player. The reality is most people want to be liked and perceived as part of the team so at times we seem to agree to things even if we think the decision is bad. Whatever the psychology or the reason is, the fact is that by agreeing to going down a path that is undoubtedly wrong is detrimental to you, your team and your organization. And they deserve better from you.

It is not always easy but if something isn't right about the direction being taken, or if it doesn’t seem right, speak up. There are ways to do it tactfully that won’t make you seem like a counterproductive member of the team. You just might be surprised at how many others feet the same way but chose, for whatever reason, not to rock the boat. And the last thing you want to do is waste time and resources on a venture that is likely doomed to fail.

So if you have a doubt, be the one to speak up and ask, “Are we going to Abilene?”

We want to hear what you think. Leave a comment and let’s start a discussion.

Copyright © 2014 The Cobalt Group, LLC. All rights reserved.