Category: No-Øs of Business

The Million Dollar question: How does a successful leader manage various teams within their organization in a way that brings the very best out of each team, in addition to the best out of each individual within a team?

Two words that are a must to accomplish the above is to LET GO! Letting go doesn’t mean that you are passing the buck, or that you disconnect, but that you TRUST your people to take care of things. You are entrusting them to do what they say they will do and allowing them to do it without micro-managing their efforts.

Let’s say you are used to focusing on leading a single team. As you move to managing multiple teams, this becomes a much bigger challenge as it takes you out of the comfortable, hands-on approach to problem solving that is customary when leading a handful of members. When you step up to the next level of leadership, managing multiple teams, you’ll experience different dynamics that require a different approach.

For a moment, imagine you’re in a car with four people, and all of a sudden you open the door, push the person who’s behind the wheel out into the street and start driving. If you do that, everyone else in that car is going to start freaking out, right?!! Well, it’s the same when you’re moving from leading one team to leading multiple teams at an organizational level. You have to be comfortable with allowing someone else to be at the wheel. Or, in this case, turning over control to your teams.

Coaching and guiding from the sidelines is the key to leading multiple, successful teams. They might have problems from time to time but you have to resist the urge to jump in and tell them how to fix something. You still need to be there for support, primarily by asking questions to help them to clarify their thinking. But the key with delegating at this level is to keep some distance, so you’re not involved in solving the day-to-day problems.

Your organization has skilled people who have been placed on specific teams to mesh their talents. Trusting them to get the job done in the way they deem most appropriate is the best form of delegation.

Miscommunication happens – between two people, within a small group and certainly within a large organization.

As a leader, there is more than one way to handle information that was either misunderstood or relayed incorrectly. It can be made worse by reacting in a negative way, calling out the person who shared the misinformation. Instead, it can and should be handled thoughtfully and calmly in a way that brings the truth to light without making the other person feel chastised.

I’d like to share one such instance that happened during the beginning stages of COVID-19. I had been putting out formal video communications to help people deal with and manage their own anxiety in relation to the pandemic. I would first visit with my executive team to outline the key points to share. Then, I would turn that dialogue into a video recording that would be made available to all staff, attached to a short email providing a brief synopsis.

When the summary email was sent, the key message was: CEO Mike Easley strongly suggests wearing masks. I was taken aback, as I knew that was not my suggestion, it was not the determined message with the executive team, nor was it relayed by me in the video.

Often, when something like this happens, our first instinct is to pick up the phone or send an email in frustration, demanding an explanation from the person who misunderstood the information. But that isn’t what I did. Instead, I got the VP of that division on the phone and said, “Hey, did you see the email that came out summarizing the meeting about the use of masks?” They replied that they had. I then asked if they would take a look at the video and compare my message to confirm the accuracy of the info shared. As expected, I was told that it was not accurate and a correction would be sent out.

We all know the tendency to breeze over information quickly and, by doing that, the message often becomes what we want to hear, or the details don’t quite sink in, or people just simply miss them.

In any case, within the next video update, I addressed the mask protocol again saying how I didn’t think I did the best job clarifying the procedure in the earlier video. I then proceeded to reiterate the same thing I shared two weeks earlier, but in a more approachable and clear way, as if it was the first time I was providing the information.

The takeaway from this story – Rather than throwing stones at someone or laying blame, correcting the miscommunication or misinformation gently is the better outcome for everyone.

I am guessing that 9 out 10 of you reading this blog will have images of different personalities interacting with each other – with egos being the center of most conflicts. Indeed, everybody is human and sometimes people do bring their emotions into their workplace, into their team environment and/or into a meeting.

However, on an organizational level, I believe that resources – and mostly limited resources – are at the heart of most conflicts. Oftentimes, departments don’t have all of the resources they would like to have to solve all of the issues being faced. Resources can be people, money, and time, as well as tangible materials. Resources span an entire organization.

Authentic and healthy conversations about resources include people stepping outside of their own needs (and department’s) and looking at the overall requirements of the organization or company. Bringing people together to remind them of the mission and overall vision is what ultimately alleviates resource conflicts.

We’ve been experiencing this at PRECorp as we’ve had to cut costs and reduce expenses, like everyone else. But we are now at that stage where trimming more areas really hurts. And if you don’t have buy-in by your staff of the “bigger purpose”, it starts to get really tough when they are competing for resources.

As the leader of an organization, it is your duty to effectively communicate the larger issues that are being faced and how leveraging certain resources is necessary. There will definitely be trade-offs and sacrifices. However, reframing the necessary changes and resource allocations, while also being transparent with your entire organization, is crucial. Resources are then not taken for granted and considered more of a “gift” than a given.

This process helps everyone to feel empowered by the direction in which the company is going and the changes being made. If you can master leading teams in resource allocation, you will indeed become a Leader Worth Following.

No doubt, we all have had moments where a light goes off in our mind and brings forward an idea or solution. And, an excited “Aha!” usually accompanies this revelation, am I right?

I’d like to share one of my Lightbulb Moments that relates to team building and the monumental creation of a ‘Team Charter’ within the organization that I serve.

I was completing my MBA program in my 9th year as CEO of Powder River Energy Corporation. The neat thing about going through this master’s program during this time is that not only was I further developing my own leadership skills but also that of my executive staff. What I was learning, they were also learning.

Our executive team at that time had many of the typical components of dysfunction, including silos where people were only concerned with their own little worlds. There was face-to-face conflict in addition to behind-the-scenes conflict. Because the style in which the team had been used to wasn’t built on everyone contributing to conversations, some felt as if they were just sitting on the sidelines. Not a great way to instill rapport amongst members nor an effective way for a team to function.

As we learned to work through these elements more constructively together, we became much more cohesive and focused. And what we ultimately built was a high-performing team charter, following Ken Blanchard’s model.

So, you might be asking, “What exactly is a ‘team charter’?” In a nutshell, it is a documented plan that is developed in a group setting that clarifies the team’s direction while establishing boundaries. It encourages complete understanding and buy-in from all members and the process in which to reach a resolution.

The key ‘Lightbulb Moment’ of this story is how having differing opinions within your team is actually a very good thing. It takes various ideas and viewpoints to reach the best solutions. Having passionate, outspoken people on your team brings life and endless possibilities for consideration. While the more soft-spoken members of the group tend to think more analytically, revealing yet another side to the topic at hand. The dynamic of full transparency and openness reduces negativity and disruptive scenarios. The sooner a team can have open dialogue around conflicts and issues, the sooner they can shift toward working as a high-performing team.

Creating a Team Charter has worked well for our cooperative and I know it can work well for your organization. Through this process, you will create stronger leaders and highly-efficient leadership teams.

I’ve been blessed with many wonderful mentors in my life, each of them appearing at the right time and place—family members to teachers to professional colleagues. Each of these people has helped me to become the person, and the leader, that I am today. This photo is of my dad and me, taken after I read the section about him in my book.

The most influential person in my life, who set my leadership style, was my maternal grandfather. His greatest gift to me was teaching me work ethic. To my Grandpa, the measure of a man was how hard he worked and it didn’t matter if you wore gloves to work or if you wore a tie. What mattered was that you gave it your all for as long as it took to get the job done.
The strongest mentor in my life has been my maternal grandmother. She’s a powerful prayer warrior and has held me accountable to myself and to God. She told me on her 80th birthday that she is finally beginning to see things as they are and how foolish she was in her 60s. I think about that a lot these days. The person who provided me with the greatest example was my father whose gift to me was showing how to take personal responsibility. He had struggled after his return from Vietnam and through all of our moves, from one job to another, and one school to the other while I was growing up, my dad never let his family know of his inner demons.

Personal responsibility lies at the foundation of my core values as without this there’d be no motivation to maintain these values. And, at the core of my being is the need to fix things. The bigger the mess, the more I like it! I like to solve problems by simply looking at them from a different perspective. You know the saying that you should call an expert if you want to find out how not to do something. That rings true with me! I want to go about quietly making things better. I’m inspired to make a positive difference and to leave things better than how I found them. My values of integrity, perseverance, courtesy, self-control, and indomitable spirit are my core values which I carry with me each and every day.

Expanding on my values, I am convinced that there are three No-Øs of Leadership that create fatal flaws. These are Ego, Libido, and Dinero. If you can be aware of these No-Øs and take personal responsibility for how you lead; you can avoid the carnage of leadership failures involving any one or a combination of the No-Øs. My book explains these fatal flaws in detail, along with ways to evade them, which include having self-awareness and empathy.

I invite you to join me in exploring lessons in leadership that have been learned over my life’s experiences and by attending the school of hard knocks. We can make the world a better place by doing our part and to make ourselves better leaders. If you have just one takeaway from my book—You CAN make a difference as you aspire to be a Leader Worth Following.

As long as I have served in the capacity of CEO, I have had an “Open-Door Policy” where anyone could come into my office, at basically any time of the day, to talk to me about absolutely anything. I use the time to connect with my people and to get a sense of where things are within the organization. I offer my full, undivided attention and make sure before anyone leaves my office, they have felt heard and feel valued. While I may offer a suggestion or two, I don’t try to “fix” any issues that are brought to me. Ultimately, any concerns or topics of conversation are given back to the person without me directly intervening, unless it involves harassment, an injustice, or policy violation. It has served me well as a great opportunity to put my finger on the pulse of the organization and to know how my people are doing.

With the onset of COVID-19, I then took my Open-Door Policy to one-on-one video visits. I would always begin with asking these three things: “How are you doing? How’s everything going? How is your family?” With 2-3 calls per day, I managed to have a discussion with almost every one of my employees in 2020. I firmly believe the extra effort and time to connect with them during this difficult time helped to alleviate some stress, for us all.

Whether making yourself available to staff in your physical office or scheduling personalized video sessions, there is a key component you first need to have in place. You must develop the trust of your managers, supervisors and team leaders. It’s important that no one feels like there has been a violation of the chain of command. With confident managers, involved teams, and a CEO who dives in and connects with all staff, your organization should be in a pretty healthy state which, ultimately, is a great outcome!

Meeting people where they are and putting yourself in their positions is what will help you, as a Leader Worth Following, to build those extremely important, personal connections.