As another year passes, this is the time of year where the best CHROs traditionally take stock, look back, reflect, and maybe try and start next year on a better footing.
So where can CHROs begin to make improvements?
According to Patrick Thean, international speaker and WSJ bestselling author, the biggest improvements CHROs (and any leader) can make is around team development.
In this latest book The Journey to CEO Success: 7 Practices for High Growth Leadership – this is discussed at length.
But, as an early Christmas present to TLNT readers, we’ve secured this exclusive excerpt to help you take a different look at the way you manage your people (and ask others to manage their people).
Take it away Patrick…
“Great execution comes from having great focus, alignment, and accountability to achieve your commitments. People do the work. If your team needs to be better equipped with the right skills, you have already failed immediately!
“Commitments get achieved with less stress and drama when your team is well-led and well-equipped. Life is good! Conversely, when your people are not up to the task, there is much drama and emotional pain. The work seems more complicated. Life sucks! The difference is people.
“Most companies prioritize team improvements after important work. But that’s like choosing to chop wood with a blunt axe. It will take more energy and time, and you will end up chopping less wood. Instead, you should stop chopping wood and take the time to sharpen your axe. You might be slower to start, but you will have more output and end up with more chopped wood.
“Choosing work over working on people will burn more energy, resources, and time, resulting in less output. You will be fooled, thinking you are producing more because you will work harder to get things done. Working harder does not equal better results.
better results.
“If you prioritize the hard work of putting the right team in place and keeping them strong, you will be on a more joyful journey to success. If you do not make this choice, you will experience a more painful and tiring journey. There is a real cost in not doing this hard work.
“Companies outgrow leaders. You will have to address this unfortunate situation as your company grows repeatedly. You must level up, and so must your leaders. It is your job to help your leaders succeed, and it is their job to produce. No matter how hard you try, you cannot force them to develop.
“I have noticed a pattern of failure when leaders put more effort into their team members’ growth than the team members put into their own.
Many of us do not pause to calculate a poor leader’s cumulative negative impact and costs. Our compassion and empathy for the leader in question may close our eyes to the cascading adverse effects down the line.
“Keeping leaders in management positions who leave a trail of negative energy is like burning your monthly payroll dollars.
“Think about your monthly payroll. Your Return On Payroll (ROP) is the productivity of your employees on payroll.
“Since payroll is a fixed cost, if productivity goes up, then your ROP increases. If your productivity goes down, then your ROP drops.
“By definition, an under-performing leader is delivering less than expected, so their ROP is lower than expected.
“Even while reading this, you have under-performing leaders. You are burning payroll dollars. Employees reporting to under-performing leaders need to get the inspiration and instruction they require to perform well.
“Their ROP also needs to improve due to better leadership from their under-performing leader.
“Leadership may stifle innovation and create an environment that encourages team members to seize opportunities or try new things.
“You are burning more payroll dollars.
:Finally, customers who these employees are managing may need better leadership from above to receive faster service or late delivery. Projects may be delayed, and customers might leave you.
“You are burning even more payroll dollars.
“And that’s the negative impact of an under-performing leader on your organization.
“This is an opportunity to build a great company and a pit of quicksand that senior leaders fall into. You can provide your leaders with growth and development opportunities if they take these to heart and take the initiative to improve themselves within an agreed-upon timeline.
“The choice is yours, but you should have the courage to extinguish your burning dollars.
“Dr. Jay Cohen was the CEO of Signature Consultants until he successfully merged his staffing company with DISYS to create Dexian, a billion-dollar company. Jay told me that he had to learn that leaders with poor emotional intelligence, especially those who lack empathy, did not deliver strong results as managers.
“During his long and successful career, when he was faced with such situations, he valued the leader’s individual skills and contributions and quickly moved them to an individual contributor role. He learned that they were unable to inspire the team members they led.
“I noticed the same pattern. I often promoted people who were very good at their jobs into leadership roles. Unfortunately, some did not have the emotional intelligence to see or sense their effect on the people they led. I wish I had learned this lesson faster and acted quicker than Dr. Jay.
“Solving people’s problems is challenging and may be emotionally draining. Your ability to resolve depends heavily on the relationship that you have built with the employee.
“My co-author, Michael, for example, likes to spend focused one-on-one time with all of his critical leaders outside of the office environment over breakfasts, lunches, and dinners to be both fully present and to be able to connect with his team on a more personal level. Michael finds these deeper connections pay dividends when navigating future roles and organizational changes. He is depositing into their emotional bank accounts.
“A CEO once told me, “My Chief Operating Officer (COO) is falling behind. I’ve been friends with Frank forever, and he’s been at the firm almost as long as I have. I don’t want to fire him, but it’s too late to develop him.” Then came a rhetorical question: “Why didn’t I bite the bullet and fire Frank two years ago?”
“I hear this a lot. Even if someone is tough to work with, the bonds of shared history will always influence our choices. This is a challenging and unpalatable decision to make.
“Overly focusing on the under-performing individual is a mistake that closes our eyes to the multiple issues developing as time passes.
“This CEO did not consider that he had been doing part of his COO’s job, leading to his overwork, stress, and under-performance. Burning payroll extended up to the CEO as well!
“In the end, your organization’s success hinges on your team’s strength and the quality of its leadership.
“Ignoring under-performance doesn’t just affect one individual; it creates a ripple effect that can undermine your entire operation.
“So, Have the courage to make tough decisions and prioritize developing your people. Invest in leaders who inspire, motivate, and drive results. By sharpening your “axe” – your team – you’ll chop more wood and create a more fulfilling and less stressful work environment.
“Don’t let personal relationships or fear of confrontation hold you back from building the great company you envision. Remember, the difference between a joyful and painful journey lies in your willingness to act decisively toward your people.”
